Chapter 18
Cardiac Tissue Engineering: A Role
for Natural Biomaterials
Pallavi Pushp and Mukesh Kumar Gupta
Abstract Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the major cause of death all over the
world, being responsible for 7.4 million deaths in a year. In the past two decades,
advances in biomaterials, stem cell biology, and engineering have allowed the
generation of tissue constructs that can imitate the complex structure of the heart
and, upon transplantation into animal models, improved the cardiac function.
Consequently, stem cell-based cardiac tissue engineering (CTE) has emerged as a
potential therapeutic strategy for the treatment of CVDs. The choice of appropriate
biomaterials that can provide differentiating and paracrine milieu to mimic the
extracellular matrix (ECM) is the key to the proper functioning of cardiac tissue
construct. Plant- or animal-derived natural polymers such as alginate, chitosan,
collagen, fibrin, gelatin, and glycosaminoglycan are biocompatible and facilitate
cell adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation for development of cardiac tissue
constructs. On the other hand, natural biomaterials such as collagen, fibronectin,
laminin, nephronectin, etc. are often used to biofunctionalize the synthetic
biomaterials-derived scaffolds to enhance cell adhesion and cell-to-cell communication. This book chapter discusses various approaches for CTE and the role of
different natural biomaterials and their importance in the biofunctionalization of
synthetic biomaterials for developing cardiac tissue constructs.
Keywords Bioactive polymers Á Biomaterials Á Cardiac tissue engineering Á
Hybrid polymers Á Scaffolds Á Stem cells
P. Pushp
Department of Biotechnology, Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET),
Bundelkhand University, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh 284 128, India
P. Pushp Á M. K. Gupta (&)
Department of Biotechnology and Medical Engineering,
National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, Odisha 769 008, India
e-mail: guptam@nitrkl.ac.in
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
D. Pal and A. K. Nayak (eds.), Bioactive Natural Products
for Pharmaceutical Applications, Advanced Structured Materials 140,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54027-2_18
617
Cardiac Tissue Engineering: A Role
for Natural Biomaterials
Pallavi Pushp and Mukesh Kumar Gupta
Abstract Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the major cause of death all over the
world, being responsible for 7.4 million deaths in a year. In the past two decades,
advances in biomaterials, stem cell biology, and engineering have allowed the
generation of tissue constructs that can imitate the complex structure of the heart
and, upon transplantation into animal models, improved the cardiac function.
Consequently, stem cell-based cardiac tissue engineering (CTE) has emerged as a
potential therapeutic strategy for the treatment of CVDs. The choice of appropriate
biomaterials that can provide differentiating and paracrine milieu to mimic the
extracellular matrix (ECM) is the key to the proper functioning of cardiac tissue
construct. Plant- or animal-derived natural polymers such as alginate, chitosan,
collagen, fibrin, gelatin, and glycosaminoglycan are biocompatible and facilitate
cell adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation for development of cardiac tissue
constructs. On the other hand, natural biomaterials such as collagen, fibronectin,
laminin, nephronectin, etc. are often used to biofunctionalize the synthetic
biomaterials-derived scaffolds to enhance cell adhesion and cell-to-cell communication. This book chapter discusses various approaches for CTE and the role of
different natural biomaterials and their importance in the biofunctionalization of
synthetic biomaterials for developing cardiac tissue constructs.
Keywords Bioactive polymers Á Biomaterials Á Cardiac tissue engineering Á
Hybrid polymers Á Scaffolds Á Stem cells
P. Pushp
Department of Biotechnology, Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET),
Bundelkhand University, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh 284 128, India
P. Pushp Á M. K. Gupta (&)
Department of Biotechnology and Medical Engineering,
National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, Odisha 769 008, India
e-mail: guptam@nitrkl.ac.in
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
D. Pal and A. K. Nayak (eds.), Bioactive Natural Products
for Pharmaceutical Applications, Advanced Structured Materials 140,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54027-2_18
617