Fig. 5.

Harnessing of the inflammatory response to improve the survival and engraftment of engineered cardiac tissues. (1) Chemotactic molecules that recruit supportive inflammatory cells can be encapsulated within the scaffold material and controlled-released into the wound site. (2) Alone or in combination with chemotactic molecules, inhibitory molecules can be encapsulated within the scaffold material to inhibit any cell that does not support the survival and engraftment of the patch. (3) The choice of scaffold material, along with its porosity and composition, and the degradation products that result from the host tissue response mediated breakdown could also provide stimulatory or inhibitory signals. Individually or in combination, the mechanisms shown can be used to harness the inflammatory environment leading to an optimized engineered cardiac patch. Created using Servier Medical Art.