Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
of the TRCS and of each cell sheet that was used for this cardiac cell
therapy.
5b.2
Temperature-Responsive Culture Surface
and Cell Sheets
Various cells can be cultured and will proliferate on a temperature-
responsive cell culture surface covalently grafted with poly(
-
isoproplyacrylamide) (PIPAAm), at temperatures above 32°C;
which is the lower critical solution temperature of the PIPAAm
molecule and the same as the surface of a normal polystyrene tissue
culture. At temperatures below 32°C, confluent cells on the TRCS
spontaneously detach themselves as an intact cell sheet without
any protease treatments (Fig. 5b.1). Importantly, the recovered cell
sheets conserve their cell-cell junctions, cell surface proteins, and
extracellular matrix (ECM) [20-22]. Three-dimensional tissue can
be easily reconstructed by layering cell sheets preserving the ECM
without scaffolds, and the resulting reconstructed tissue can attach to
host tissues without suture or other materials. Cell sheets have been
fabricated using various cells, including skeletal myoblasts (SkMs),
mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs), and
cardiac cells, and they have been successfully used in various animal
heart failure models. In the following paragraphs, the characteristics
and therapeutic effects of cell sheet-based myocardial patches are
described in detail.
N
5b.3
Stem Cells and Cell Sheet Therapy
5b.3.1
Skeletal Myoblast Sheet Patch
Menasché et al.
first demonstrated the possibility of using SkMs as
part of a cell therapy for severe ischemic cardiomyopathy [23]. SkMs
can be isolated autologously and are relatively resistant to ischemia
[24]. The authors' collaborators have showed that autologous SkM
sheets improved damaged heart function in various animal models.
Memon et al. have demonstrated that autologous SkM sheets
repaired the impaired myocardium, reduced fibrosis, and prevented
remodeling compared to myoblast injection in a rat myocardial
