A myocardial patch made of collagen membranes loaded with collagen-binding human vascular endothelial growth factor accelerates healing of the injured rabbit heart

Tissue Eng Part A. 2011 Nov;17(21-22):2739-47. doi: 10.1089/ten.TEA.2011.0105. Epub 2011 Aug 2.

Abstract

Tissue-engineered myocardial patches could be useful in the repair of myocardial injuries. The aim of the present study was to evaluate a collagen targeting delivery system for myocardial repair. A specific peptide collagen-binding domain (CBD) was fused to human vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) to enhance the binding of VEGF to collagen. In this study, collagen membranes loaded with CBD-VEGF, natural VEGF, or phosphate-buffered saline are used as cardiac patches to repair the infarcted myocardium in a rabbit model. CBD-VEGF/collagen group could effectively induce more cells to penetrate into the collagen membrane after 4 weeks and promote more vascularization in infarcted myocardium after 12 weeks compared with the other two control groups. Echocardiography and hemodynamic studies both show cardiac function improvement in the CBD-VEGF/collagen group. These results reveal that implantation of CBD-VEGF collagen membrane patch into the infarcted myocardium could effectively improve left ventricle cardiac function and increase the vascular density.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Collagen / chemistry*
  • Echocardiography
  • Hemodynamics / physiology
  • Humans
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • Male
  • Myocardial Infarction / surgery*
  • Myocardium / cytology*
  • Rabbits
  • Tissue Engineering / methods*
  • Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / chemistry*
  • Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / therapeutic use

Substances

  • Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A
  • Collagen