Injectable ECM scaffolds for cardiac repair.

Injectable biomaterials have been developed as potential minimally invasive therapies for treating myocardial infarction (MI) and heart failure. Christman et al. first showed that the injection of a biomaterial alone into rat myocardium can improve cardiac function after MI (Christman et al. Tissue Eng 10:403-409, 2004). More recently, hydrogel forms of decellularized extracellular matrix (ECM) materials have shown substantial promise. Here we present the methods for fabricating an injectable cardiac specific ECM biomaterial shown to already have positive outcomes in small and large animal models for cardiac repair (Singelyn et al. Biomaterials 30:5409-5416, 2009; Singelyn et al. J Am Coll Cardiol 59:751-763, 2012; Seif-Naraghi et al. Sci Transl Med 5:173ra25, 2013). Also covered are the methods for the injection of a biomaterial into rat myocardium using a surgical approach through the diaphragm. Although the methods shown here are for injection of an acellular biomaterial, cells or other therapeutics could also be added to the injection for testing other regenerative medicine strategies.