Table 2.

Selected in vivo preclinical studies on cardiac tissue engineering.

Tissue engineering strategy	Specific tissue engineering approach	Cell source	Animal model	Disease model	Major achievements	Ref.
Engineered heart tissue	CM and collagen type I macroscale ring EHT	hESC-CM	Rat	MI IR 60 min	Cardiac function recovery: no significant changes in LVEDV and LVESV at 4 weeks; progressive improvement in LVEF at 4 weeks Assessment methods: echocardiography and MRI	231
Engineered heart tissue	Fibrin EHT	hiPSC-CM, -EC	Guinea pig	Cryo-injury	Cardiac function recovery: absence of pro-arrhythmogenic effects at day 28 Assessment methods: echocardiography	232
Engineered heart tissue	Fibrin EHT	hiPSC-CM, -EC	Guinea pig	Cryo-injury	Cardiac function recovery: improved LV function at day 28; EHT vascularization and electrical coupling with host heart tissue Assessment methods: ecochardiography	233
Cardiac patch	3D-printed patch composed of hyaluronic acid/gelatin-based matrix.	Human CPC	Mouse	MI	Cardiac function recovery: reduction in LVEDV and LVESV at 4 weeks; reduction of infarct fibrosis Assessment methods: MRI and histology	237
Cardiac patch	Fibrin patch with nylon frame	hiPSC-CM	Rat	N/A	Cardiac function recovery: patches failed to electrically couple with the recipient’s hearts; patch vascularization by host vessels; no immune rejection Assessment methods: electromechanical optical dual mapping, dorsal window chamber assay, and histology	126
Cardiac patch	Cardiac muscle patch	hiPSC-CM, -EC, and -SMCs	Pig	MI IR 60 min	Cardiac function recovery: LVEF and LVEDV improvements at 4 weeks; no spontaneous arrhythmias were detected 2 weeks post-acute MI phase Assessment methods: MRI and electrocardiography	235
Cardiac patch	3D fibrin patch loaded with insulin growth factor-encapsulated microspheres	hiPSC-CM, -EC, and -SMC	Pig	MI	Cardiac function recovery: improved LVEF at 4 weeks; reduction in LV wall stress; reduction in infarct size Assessment methods: ecochardiography and histology	234
Cardiac patch	Conductive patch composed of chitosan, phytic acid, and aniline	Acellular	Rat	MI	Cardiac function recovery: improvements in LVEF and LVFS at 2 weeks; absence of pro-arrhythmogenic effects Assessment methods: echocardiography	236
Cardiac patch	Viscoelastic starch patch designed by finite-element simulation	Acellular	Rat	MI	Cardiac function recovery: decreased LVIDD and LVIDS at 4 weeks; improved LVEF and LVFS at 4 weeks; reduction in infarct size; reduction of myocardial hypertrophy Assessment methods: echocardiography, histology, and immunofluorescence microscopy	243
Microspheres	Gelatin MSs	CPC and CPC + MS	Mouse	MI	Cardiac function recovery: improved LVEF at day 28; reduction in LVESV and LVEDV Assessment methods: MRI	238
Nanofibers	Poly(d,l-lactic-co-glycolic acid) polymer nanofibers	hiPSC-CM	Rat	MI	Cardiac function recovery: improvements in LVEF, LVFS, and LVESD at 4 weeks; no immune rejection Assessment methods: echocardiography and histology	239
Cell sheets	Cell sheet	hiPSC-CM	Pig	MI	Cardiac function recovery: improvements in LVEF, LVEDV, and LVESV at 4 and 8 weeks Assessment methods: echocardiography and cardiac MSCT	240
Biomaterials	Injectable alginate hydrogel	Acellular	Rat	MI	Cardiac function recovery: LVFS improvement at 8 weeks after injection, either in recent or old infarcts Assessment methods: echocardiography	241
Biomaterials	Solubilized porcine myocardial ECM injectable hydrogel	Acellular	Pig	MI	Cardiac function recovery: LVEF, LVEDV, and LVESV improvements at 12 weeks; reduced infarct size at 3 weeks Assessment methods: echocardiography and NOGA	242

CM cardiomyocytes, CPC cardiac progenitor cell, EC endothelial cells, ECM extracellular matrix, hESC-CM human embryonic stem cells derived cardiomyocytes, hiPSC human induced pluripotent stem cells, hiPSC-CM human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes, IR ischemia–reperfusion, LV left ventricular, LVEDV left ventricular end-diastolic volume, LVEF left ventricular ejection fraction, LVESD left ventricular end-systolic dimension, LVESV left ventricular end-systolic volume, LVFS left ventricular fractional shortening, LVIDD left ventricular internal diastolic diameter, LVIDS left ventricular internal systolic diameter, MI myocardial infarction, MRI magnetic resonance imaging, MS microspheres, MSCT multislice computer tomography, SMC smooth muscle cells.