Cardiac regenerative therapy has received attention as a potentially revolutionary approach for treating the damaged heart. The mouse model of myocardial infarction (MI) remains one of the most common tools for the evaluation of such new therapies. Typically, intramyocardial administration of cells or biomaterials in mice is performed by an open-chest surgical procedure, but less invasive delivery methods are becoming available. Echocardiography-based transthoracic myocardial injection is one such minimally invasive approach that can reliably deliver therapeutics to the target site with limited complications and quick recovery for the animal following the procedure. Here, we will describe the method of echocardiography-guided intramyocardial injection in a mouse MI model.
Keywords: Cardiac tissue engineering; Echocardiography; Intramyocardial injection; Myocardial infarction; Stem/progenitor cells.