Daniel James Stuckey1, Hikaru Ishii2,
Aldo R. Boccaccini2, Carolyn A. Carr1, Judith A.
Roether2, Qi Zhi Chen2, Hedeer Jawad2,
Damian J. Tyler1, Nadire N. Ali2, Kieran Clarke1,
Sian E. Harding2
1Department of Physiology, Anatomy and
Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, Oxon, United Kingdom; 2National
Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College, London, United Kingdom
MRI
was used to test three different scaffold materials designed for myocardial
tissue engineering. Scaffold location, degradation and effect on cardiac
function were measured in vivo at 1
and 6 weeks after grafting of scaffold onto infarcted rat hearts. The rigid
TiO2-PED scaffold induced microvascular occlusion and necrosis
adjacent to the scaffold, resulting in reduced cardiac function by six weeks.
The PGS scaffold was not detrimental to function, but MRI showed that the
material degraded between 1 and 6 weeks in
vivo. This study demonstrates the feasibility and importance of using MRI
to optimise myocardial tissue engineering strategies.
Keywords