Development of Measuring Device for Contractile Force of Cardiac Tissue

Thick three-dimensional tissue engineered structures have a great future potential in various areas of regenerative medicine. However, the diffusion limit of nutrients, oxygen and metabolites represents a major challenge. The constructs consist of stacked human cardiac cell sheets which are vascularized through tissue engineered vascular beds. Conventionally, stacking cell sheets are limited due to cell necrosis caused by lack of oxygen or nutrition. Therefore, in order to create thick tissues, it is necessary to create vascular networks in the stacked cell sheets and perfuse them with cell culture media. The purpose of this study is to create thick myocardial implantable and functional tissues with pre-existing vascular networks and make mechanical evaluation of the cardiac tissue. We created vascular beds from porcine small intestinal tissue by trimming it into a flat surface, removing mucosa and finally sterilizing it with peracetic acid. Triple-layers of human cardiac cell sheets were then stacked using the stamp method. We performed mechanical analyses using a newly developed, 3D-printed device capable of real time measurement of contraction force during cardiac tissue culture. Cell sheet morphology was assessed using optical coherence tomography. Real time contractile force could successfully be recorded using the newly developed device.