Cardiac Tissue Engineering

The development of functional cardiac tissue in vitro for replacing damaged heart tissues and eventually improving heart function is considered as a promising approach. This chapter discusses ongoing research efforts toward ultimately developing functional cardiac replacement tissue. Current challenges include selection of a suitable and abundant cell source for constructing physiologic tissues, mimicking native anisotropic structure and function, providing appropriate biophysical stimulations, and developing vascularized tissues for better survival and integration in vivo. In addition, various in vitro models, which can be used for investigating cardiac development and pathologies as well as for high-throughput drug screening applications, are discussed. Various cell types considered for cardiac regeneration, including mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), embryonic stem cells (ESCs), and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Various strategies have been employed in developing 3D cardiac tissue constructs using numerous types of biomaterials including hydrogels, fibrous scaffolds, and cell-mediated or scaffold-free biomaterials.