Description:
Reference #: 00166
Invention Description:
This invention is a 3-dimensional, multilayered, functional, artificial myocardium. The subject invention is composed of appropriate extracellular matrix (ECM), nutritional requirements, a critical ratio of myocytes and fibroblasts, all in an in vitro environment.
Potential Applications:
· Implantation to repair or patch focal structural defects of the ventricular wall
· Augmentation of existing muscle
· Correction of muscle deficiencies
· Serve as a functional and structural replacement for dysfunctional muscle tissue
Advantages and Benefits:
The subject invention contains uniform alignment and orientation of muscle cells while providing mechanical stability and structural integrity to withstand manual manipulation, surgical procedures and the mechanical environment of the implanted tissue.
Problem Solved:
The reconstruction of dysfunctional skeletal muscle tissue has yet to be achieved. Attempts to fabricate such biomedical tissue grafts have been generally confined to experiments in which skeletal muscle cells are trapped in a collagen gel.
The current states of the art are produced in conventional tissue culture and are composed of muscle cells that lack a uniform alignment or orientation. The random nature of the cells within these sparsely populated implants limits the utility of that tissue and its ability to function as an ordinary tissue. They also lack mechanical stability or the lack the structural integrity to withstand manual manipulation, the surgical procedures and the mechanical environment of the intact tissue.