Journal
CIRCULATION
Volume 111, Issue 4, Pages 442-450Publisher
LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS
DOI: 10.1161/01.CIR.0000153847.47301.80
Keywords
tissue engineering; microenvironment; regeneration
Funding
- NHLBI NIH HHS [F32 HL073574-03, F32 HL073574] Funding Source: Medline
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Background - Promoting survival of transplanted cells or endogenous precursors is an important goal. We hypothesized that a novel approach to promote vascularization would be to create injectable microenvironments within the myocardium that recruit endothelial cells and promote their survival and organization. Methods and Results - In this study we demonstrate that self-assembling peptides can be injected and that the resulting nanofiber microenvironments are readily detectable within the myocardium. Furthermore, the self-assembling peptide nanofiber microenvironments recruit progenitor cells that express endothelial markers, as determined by staining with isolectin and for the endothelial-specific protein platelet - endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1. Vascular smooth muscle cells are recruited to the microenvironment and appear to form functional vascular structures. After the endothelial cell population, cells that express alpha-sarcomeric actin and the transcription factor Nkx2.5 infiltrate the peptide microenvironment. When exogenous donor green fluorescent protein - positive neonatal cardiomyocytes were injected with the self-assembling peptides, transplanted cardiomyocytes in the peptide microenvironment survived and also augmented endogenous cell recruitment. Conclusions - These experiments demonstrate that self-assembling peptides can create nanofiber microenvironments in the myocardium and that these microenvironments promote vascular cell recruitment. Because these peptide nanofibers may be modified in a variety of ways, this approach may enable injectable tissue regeneration strategies.
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