Cardiac Tissues From Stem Cells

Circulation Research, vol. 128, pp. 775–801

Abstract

The ability of human pluripotent stem cells to form all cells of the body has provided many opportunities to study disease and produce cells that can be used for therapy in regenerative medicine. Even though beating cardiomyocytes were among the first cell types to be differentiated from human pluripotent stem cell, cardiac applications have advanced more slowly than those, for example, for the brain, eye, and pancreas. This is, in part, because simple 2-dimensional human pluripotent stem cell cardiomyocyte cultures appear to need crucial functional cues normally present in the 3-dimensional heart structure. Recent tissue engineering approaches combined with new insights into the dialogue between noncardiomyocytes and cardiomyocytes have addressed and provided solutions to issues such as cardiomyocyte immaturity and inability to recapitulate adult heart values for features like contraction force, electrophysiology, or metabolism. Three-dimensional bioengineered heart tissues are thus poised to contribute significantly to disease modeling, drug discovery, and safety pharmacology, as well as provide new modalities for heart repair. Here, we review the current status of 3-dimensional engineered heart tissues.

Authors 5

1. Giulia Campostrini Aachen Department of Anatomy and Embryology

   Leiden University Medical Center

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Anatomy and Embryology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands (G.C., L.M.W., B.J.v.M., M.B., C.L.M.)

   Giulia Campostrini https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4688-4991 Department of Anatomy and Embryology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands (G.C., L.M.W., B.J.v.M., M.B., C.L.M.)

2. Laura M. Windt Aachen Department of Anatomy and Embryology Laura M. Windt Department of Anatomy and Embryology

   Leiden University Medical Center

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Anatomy and Embryology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands (G.C., L.M.W., B.J.v.M., M.B., C.L.M.)

   Laura M. Windt Department of Anatomy and Embryology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands (G.C., L.M.W., B.J.v.M., M.B., C.L.M.)

3. Berend J. van Meer Aachen Department of Anatomy and Embryology Berend J. van Meer Department of Anatomy and Embryology Netherlands . MESA+ Institute

   Leiden University Medical Center · University of Twente

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Anatomy and Embryology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands (G.C., L.M.W., B.J.v.M., M.B., C.L.M.)

   MESA+ Institute (B.J.v.M.), University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands

   Berend J. van Meer Department of Anatomy and Embryology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands (G.C., L.M.W., B.J.v.M., M.B., C.L.M.). MESA+ Institute (B.J.v.M.), University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands

4. Milena Bellin Aachen Department of Anatomy and Embryology Italy . Veneto Institute of Molecular Medicine

   Leiden University · University of Padua · Leiden University Medical Center · Veneto Institute of Molecular Medicine

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Anatomy and Embryology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands (G.C., L.M.W., B.J.v.M., M.B., C.L.M.)

   Department of Biology, University of Padua, Italy (M.B.)

   Veneto Institute of Molecular Medicine, Padua, Padua, Italy (M.B.)

   Milena Bellin https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5380-6743 Department of Anatomy and Embryology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands (G.C., L.M.W., B.J.v.M., M.B., C.L.M.). Department of Biology, University of Padua, Italy (M.B.). Veneto Institute of Molecular Medicine, Padua, Padua, Italy (M.B.)

5. Christine L. Mummery Aachen Department of Anatomy and Embryology

   Leiden University Medical Center · University of Twente

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Anatomy and Embryology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands (G.C., L.M.W., B.J.v.M., M.B., C.L.M.)

   Department of Applied Stem Cell Technologies (C.L.M.), University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands