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A Tissue Engineering Chamber for Continuous Pulsatile Electrical Stimulation of Vascularized Cardiac Tissues In Vivo
Author(s) -
Damián Hernández,
Rodney Millard,
Anne Mandy Kong,
Owen Burns,
Priyadharshini Sivakumaran,
Robert K. Shepherd,
Gregory J. Dusting,
Shiang Y. Lim
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
bioelectricity
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2576-3113
pISSN - 2576-3105
DOI - 10.1089/bioe.2020.0035
Subject(s) - in vivo , biomedical engineering , pulsatile flow , tissue engineering , stimulation , induced pluripotent stem cell , materials science , medicine , anatomy , chemistry , biology , embryonic stem cell , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , gene
Background: Cardiomyocytes derived from pluripotent stem cells are immature. Maturation of cardiomyocytes is a multifactorial dynamic process that involves various factors in vivo that cannot be fully recapitulated in vitro . Here, we report a novel tissue engineering chamber with an integrated electrical stimulator and electrodes that will allow wireless electrical stimulation of cardiac tissue in vivo . Materials and Methods: Immunocompromised rats were implanted with tissue engineering chambers containing the stimulator and electrodes, and control chambers (chambers with electrical stimulator but without the electrodes) in the contralateral limb. Each chamber contained cardiomyocytes derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). After 7 days of chamber implantation, the electrical stimulators were activated for 4 h per day, for 21 consecutive days. Results: At 4 weeks postimplantation, cardiomyocytes derived from human iPSCs survived, were assembled into compact cardiac tissue, and were perfused and vascularized by the host neovessels. Conclusion: This proof-of-principle study demonstrates the biocompatibility of the tissue engineering chamber with integrated electrical stimulator and electrodes. This could be utilized to study the influence of continuous electrical stimulation on vascularized cardiac or other tissues in vivo.

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