Journal
BIOCHEMICAL AND BIOPHYSICAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS
Volume 373, Issue 3, Pages 360-365Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2008.06.019
Keywords
cardiac tissue engineering; matrix metalloproteinase; ECM remodeling; cell alignment; self-assembling peptide gel
Categories
Funding
- NHLBI NIH HHS [F32 HL084968-03, 1F32HL084968-01, F32 HL084968, F32 HL084968-01, F32 HL084968-02] Funding Source: Medline
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Cardiac tissue engineering has been limited by the inability to recreate native myocardial structural features. We hypothesized that heart cell elongation and alignment in 3D engineered cardiac constructs would be enhanced by using physiologic ratios of cardiomyocytes (CM) and cardiac fibroblasts (CF) via matrix metalloprotease (MMP)-dependent mechanisms. Co-cultured CM and CF constructs were compared to CM-enriched constructs using either basal media or media with a general MMP inhibitor for 8 days. Co-cultured constructs exhibited significantly increased cell alignment (p < 0.0002), which was eliminated by MMP inhibition. Co-cultured constructs expressed substantial active MMP-2 protein that was not present in CM-enriched constructs, increased pro-MMP-2 (p < 0.001), and reduced pro-MMP-9 (p < 0.001) expression. Apoptosis was decreased by co-culture (p < 0.05), independent of MMP inhibition. These results demonstrated that co-culture of CF in physiologic ratios within engineered cardiac constructs improved cell elongation and alignment via increased MMP-2 expression and activation, and also improved viability independent of MMP activity. (c) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available