The heart is an organ that fails beyond repair because of the intrinsic inability of damaged
heart tissue to regenerate after injury. Heart disease is currently the leading cause of death …

Maintenance of normal myocardial function depends intimately on synchronous tissue
contraction, driven by electrical activation and on adequate nutrient perfusion in support …

Heart disease is a leading cause of death in western society. Despite the success of heart
transplantation, a chronic shortage of donor organs, along with the associated …

Ischemic heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, in part due to the heart's
limited capacity to regenerate. Transplantation of exogenous cells into the heart is a …

1. BACKGROUND Cell-based therapies have been suggested as a novel and potentially
curative approach for replacement of impaired myocardium [Reinlib and Field, 2000] …

Cardiac tissue engineering is a promising approach to provide large-scale tissues for
transplantation to regenerate the heart after ischemic injury, however, integration with the …

Transplantations of various stem cells or their progeny have repeatedly improved cardiac
performance in animal models of myocardial injury; however, the benefits observed in …

The limited ability of cardiac muscle to regenerate after myocardial infarction motivates
studies aimed at new, curative treatment options. Engineered cardiac constructs may serve …

The major challenge of tissue engineering is directing the cells to establish the physiological
structure and function of the tissue being replaced across different hierarchical scales. To …

Cardiac tissue engineering is an emerging field that aims to enhance cardiac function in
patients with heart disease or congenital malformations, by providing suitable implantable …