Biomimetic Cardiac Tissue Models for In Vitro Arrhythmia Studies
Aleria Aitova,
Andrey Berezhnoy,
Valeriya Tsvelaya,
Oleg Gusev,
Alexey Lyundup,
Anton E. Efimov,
Igor Agapov,
Konstantin Agladze
Affiliations
Aleria Aitova
Laboratory of Experimental and Cellular Medicine, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, 141700 Dolgoprudny, Russia
Andrey Berezhnoy
Laboratory of Experimental and Cellular Medicine, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, 141700 Dolgoprudny, Russia
Valeriya Tsvelaya
Laboratory of Experimental and Cellular Medicine, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, 141700 Dolgoprudny, Russia
Oleg Gusev
Regulatory Genomics Research Center, Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology, Kazan Federal University, 420018 Kazan, Russia
Alexey Lyundup
RUDN University, 117198 Moscow, Russia
Anton E. Efimov
Academician V.I. Shumakov National Medical Research Center of Transplantology and Artificial Organs, Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, 123182 Moscow, Russia
Igor Agapov
Academician V.I. Shumakov National Medical Research Center of Transplantology and Artificial Organs, Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, 123182 Moscow, Russia
Konstantin Agladze
Laboratory of Experimental and Cellular Medicine, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, 141700 Dolgoprudny, Russia
Cardiac arrhythmias are a major cause of cardiovascular mortality worldwide. Many arrhythmias are caused by reentry, a phenomenon where excitation waves circulate in the heart. Optical mapping techniques have revealed the role of reentry in arrhythmia initiation and fibrillation transition, but the underlying biophysical mechanisms are still difficult to investigate in intact hearts. Tissue engineering models of cardiac tissue can mimic the structure and function of native cardiac tissue and enable interactive observation of reentry formation and wave propagation. This review will present various approaches to constructing cardiac tissue models for reentry studies, using the authors’ work as examples. The review will highlight the evolution of tissue engineering designs based on different substrates, cell types, and structural parameters. A new approach using polymer materials and cellular reprogramming to create biomimetic cardiac tissues will be introduced. The review will also show how computational modeling of cardiac tissue can complement experimental data and how such models can be applied in the biomimetics of cardiac tissue.