UC San Diego

The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a complex composition of proteins, proteoglycans, and glycosaminoglycans. Biological scaffolds composed of ECM have been used to help repair a variety of tissues in the body. It has been shown that an extracellular matrix material can be generated by decellularizing cardiac tissue and processed into injectable formulations for cardiac tissue engineering. When brought to physiological conditions, the matrix material will self-assemble into a porous hydrogel. The objective of the present study is to prepare the gel form of the myocardial matrix, characterize and tailor material properties of the gel, compare material properties to a human derived myocardial matrix gel, and finally evaluate the ability of the gel to support the growth of smooth muscle cells in vitro. Material properties including viscosity, swelling ratio, gelation kinetics, and stiffness were assessed. The results of the study show that material properties of the myocardial matrix can be tailored by adjusting gelation conditions. Changes in final pH, salt concentration, and protein concentration had effects on viscosity and gelation kinetics but not swelling ratio. This study also shows that there are differences in material properties between that of the porcine myocardial matrix and the human myocardial matrix. Finally the study demonstrated that myocardial matrix supported the adhesion and proliferation of rat aortic smooth muscle cells under static conditions