Table 4.

Materials and assays to generate 3D cardiac models.

Scaffolds (Fong)114	• iPSC plating on cardiac scaffolds. • Boosted cardiac maturation and increased expression of genes implicated in heart contraction.
3D fibrin hydrogels (Twardowski)115	• Endothelial cells co-cultured with cardiac fibroblasts. Endothelial cell sprouts formation and vessel maturation by angiogenic factors production. • Endothelial cells co-cultured with mesenchymal stem cells. Enhanced adhesion and protrusion with multicellular sprout formation.
Hydrogel substrata and chemical stimulation (Kim)116	• Autologous cardiosphere-derived cells seeded in nanotopographical polymeric hydrogel substrata. • Induction of cardiomyogenic differentiation by a GTPase activation protein treatment.
3D matrices and microgauges (Boudou)117	• Cardiac cells embedded in collagen and fibrin matrices. • Mini-engineered heart tissue grown into micro device for checking mechanical, soluble and electrical stimuli, and for recording cardiac contractility and beating frequencies.
Biomimetic engineered platform (Macadangdang)118	• Cardiomyocytes cultured on anisotropically nanofabricated substrata, formed by channels and chines, mimicking the myocardial matrix structure. • Topographic cues of these nanostructures enhance the alignment and directionality of cardiac cells.
Nano-grid size (Carson)119	• Cardiomyocytes plated into nano-grooved topographies, similar to myocardial basement membrane. • Nanotopographical sizes influence cardiomyocyte structural evolution and parallel orientation mimicking the native mammalian myocardium.

3D, three-dimensional; GTPase, guanosine triphosphatase; iPSC, induced pluripotent stem cell.