E. Mostafavi
Stanford University School of Medicine,
United States
Keywords: cardiovascular diseases, nanomedicine, regenerative medicine, biomaterials, tissue engineering, nanomaterials, myocardial infarction
Summary:
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the most leading cause of mortality in the USA and costs $300 billion per year. Due to the lack of appropriate and reliable in vitro models to recapitulate the complex structure of the heart organ (from the early stages of development to a mature organ), our understanding is still limited, and we need more well-developed models to be able to accurately investigate the ultrastructural, functional, histochemical, molecular analysis, and gene expression characteristics of the heart. Moreover, the transplantation of bioengineered tissues that can adequately and simultaneously meet the biochemical, electrical, and mechanical demands of the native heart tissue to promote regeneration (for example, following myocardial infarction: MI) is hindered due to the lack of angiogenesis. Integration of nanotechnology, advanced biomaterials, and biology can result in the design and development of in vitro models (such as cardiac patches, 3D bioprinted constructs, cardiac organoids, vascular grafts, bioengineered heart tissues, etc.) that can successfully overcome some of the key limitations that can impede the translational applications of them.