Cells for tissue engineering of cardiac valves

Abstract

Heart valve tissue engineering is a promising alternative to prostheses for the replacement of diseased or damaged heart valves, because tissue-engineered valves have the ability to remodel, regenerate and grow. To engineer heart valves, cells are harvested, seeded onto or into a three-dimensional (3D) matrix platform to generate a tissue-engineered construct in vitro, and then implanted into a patient's body. Successful engineering of heart valves requires a thorough understanding of the different types of cells that can be used to obtain the essential phenotypes that are expressed in native heart valves. This article reviews different cell types that have been used in heart valve engineering, cell sources for harvesting, phenotypic expression in constructs and suitability in heart valve tissue engineering. Natural and synthetic biomaterials that have been applied as scaffold systems or cell-delivery platforms are discussed with each cell type. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Supercritical Carbon Dioxide–Based Sterilization of Decellularized Heart Valves

“…Because the majority of this tissue is heterogeneous and contains very fragile cusps, as well as a strong root, the sterilization process can really affect the integrity of cusps easily, that is, the functionality of the valve 24, 25, 26. To verify the superiority of the scCO 2 technique, decellularized porcine aortic valves were sterilized with various sterilization techniques, including the scCO 2 technique.…”

Bioprinting a cardiac valve

“…Precursor cells from blood or heart, infiltrated into the implanted valves. In some observations, the cells in those valves had myofibroblast phenotype confirming their developmental or pathological stage (Jana, Tefft, 2014c, Jana, Tranquillo, 2015. In later case, contraction, thrombosis or mineralization was observed due to presence of non-conducive microenvironment in the valves.…”

“…Conversely, in our study, same VICs showed fibroblast phenotype in a circumferentially oriented nanofibrous membrane (stiffness ~ 230 KPa) which mimics the morphology of the fibrosa layer of an aortic valve leaflet. In a native leaflet, VICs show quiescent fibroblast phenotype; though, their myofibroblast phenotype has been detected in the ventricularis layer of a porcine leaflet, possibly due to shear strain from dynamic motion and thrust during coaptation (Bertipaglia et al , 2003, Jana et al , 2015. The damage to the leaflets in the dynamic environment is restored by their continuous remodeling.…”

“…These scaffolds were cultured in vitro or implanted in animal model with or without cells from different human or animal sources (eg. bone marrow, aortic valve, peripheral blood, amniotic fluid, carotid artery, umbilical cord, adipose tissue and chorionic villi) (Jana, Tranquillo, 2015). In addition, different biomolecules including growth factors, peptides and proteins have been delivered to the engineering sites to obtain better results in heart valve tissue engineering (Jana, Simari, 2014b).…”

Cardiovascular Regenerative Technologies: Update and Future Outlook

“…Other crucial variables to be considered for a fruitful in vitro tissue-engineered valvular production include i) the cell type used for the seeding onto the valvular molds, ii) the culture type, meaning either single cell type cultures or co-culture systems, and iii) ECM production coupled with biomaterial degradation rates [57]. Additionally, cells should be of autologous origin, non-immunogenic, and possessing pronounced plasticity.…”