Porous acellular bovine pericardia seeded with mesenchymal stem cells as a patch to repair a myocardial defect in a syngeneic rat model

A patch is often mandatory to repair myocardial defects; however, currently available patches lack the possibility of regeneration. To overcome this limitation, a porous acellular bovine pericardium seeded with BrdU-labeled mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) was prepared (the MSC patch) to repair a surgically created myocardial defect in the right ventricle of a syngeneic rat model. The bovine pericardium before cell extraction was used as a control (the Control patch). The implanted samples were retrieved at 4- and 12-week postoperatively (n = 5 per group at each time point). At retrieval, no aneurysmal dilation of the implanted patches was seen for both studied groups. No apparent tissue adhesion was observed for the MSC patch throughout the entire course of the study, while for the Control patch, two out of the five studied animals at 12-week postoperatively had a filmy adhesion to the chest wall. On the inner (endocardial) surface, intimal thickening was observed for both studied groups; however, no thrombus formation was found. Intact layers of endothelial and mesothelial cells were identified on the inner and outer (epicardial) surfaces of the MSC patch. Smooth muscle cells together with neo-muscle fibers, neo-glycosaminoglycans and neo-capillaries were observed within the pores of the MSC patch. Some cardiomyocytes, which stained positively for BrdU and α-sacromeric actin, were observed in the MSC patch, indicating that the implanted MSCs can engraft and differentiate into cardiomyocytes. Additionally, a normality of the local electrograms on the epicardial surface of the MSC patch was observed. In contrast, no apparent tissue regeneration was observed for the Control patch throughout the entire course of the study, while only abnormal electrogram signals were seen on its epicardial surface. In conclusion, the MSC patch may preserve the structure of the ventricular wall while providing the potential for myocardial tissue regeneration.