Part of the book: Pluripotent Stem Cells
By combining tissue engineering techniques with human-induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) technology, human-derived engineered cardiac tissues (ECTs) have been developed using several cell lineage compositions and 3-dimensional geometries. Although hiPSC ECTs are relatively immature compared with native adult heart tissues, they have promising potential as a platform technology for drug-screening and disease modeling, and as grafts for hiPSC-based regenerative heart therapy. This chapter provides the focused overview of the current status of cardiac tissue engineering technology and its possible application.
Part of the book: Stem Cells in Clinical Practice and Tissue Engineering
Studies of not only preclinical cardiovascular research but also those of life science, medical, and pharmacological fields commonly utilize small animal models. However, for the advancement of cardiovascular medicine, researches using large animal models are important step for preclinical validation of therapeutic efficacy and safety by virtue of having models with a body and heart size comparable with that of a human, providing clinically relevant experiments without the concern of over- or under-estimating therapeutic effects and risks. In particular, pigs are considered as a suitable animal model for research in cardiovascular medicine because of the similarities in physiology, metabolism, genomics, and proteomics to those in humans. Another advantage of pigs is the availability of various heart disease models such as myocardial infarction and genetically established cardiomyopathy. The present review updates the contributions of large animal model-based research to the development of cardiovascular medicine, especially focusing on the utility of pig models.
Part of the book: Animal Models and Experimental Research in Medicine