A human pericardium biopolymeric scaffold for autologous heart valve tissue engineering: cellular and extracellular matrix structure and biomechanical properties in comparison with a normal aortic heart valve
Language English Country England, Great Britain Media print-electronic
Document type Comparative Study, Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
- Keywords
- Autologous, collagen, elastin, extracellular matrix, glycosaminoglycans, human aortic heart valve, human pericardium, pericardial interstitial cells, secant elastic modulus, valvular interstitial cells,
- MeSH
- Aorta * MeSH
- Biomechanical Phenomena MeSH
- Biopolymers chemistry MeSH
- Extracellular Matrix metabolism MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Mechanical Phenomena * MeSH
- Pericardium cytology MeSH
- Tensile Strength MeSH
- Heart Valves cytology MeSH
- Materials Testing MeSH
- Tissue Engineering * MeSH
- Tissue Scaffolds chemistry MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
- Comparative Study MeSH
- Names of Substances
- Biopolymers MeSH
The objective of our study was to compare the cellular and extracellular matrix (ECM) structure and the biomechanical properties of human pericardium (HP) with the normal human aortic heart valve (NAV). HP tissues (from 12 patients) and NAV samples (from 5 patients) were harvested during heart surgery. The main cells in HP were pericardial interstitial cells, which are fibroblast-like cells of mesenchymal origin similar to the valvular interstitial cells in NAV tissue. The ECM of HP had a statistically significantly (p < 0.001) higher collagen I content, a lower collagen III and elastin content, and a similar glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) content, in comparison with the NAV, as measured by ECM integrated density. However, the relative thickness of the main load-bearing structures of the two tissues, the dense part of fibrous HP (49 ± 2%) and the lamina fibrosa of NAV (47 ± 4%), was similar. In both tissues, the secant elastic modulus (Es) was significantly lower in the transversal direction (p < 0.05) than in the longitudinal direction. This proved that both tissues were anisotropic. No statistically significant differences in UTS (ultimate tensile strength) values and in calculated bending stiffness values in the longitudinal or transversal direction were found between HP and NAV. Our study confirms that HP has an advantageous ECM biopolymeric structure and has the biomechanical properties required for a tissue from which an autologous heart valve replacement may be constructed.
Department of Cell Biology School of Medicine University of Virginia Charlottesville VA USA
g Institute of Botany CAS Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Pruhonice Czech Republic
References provided by Crossref.org
Modification of human pericardium by chemical crosslinking
