Aims and Goals for Constructing Tissue Engineered Cardiac Muscle Replacement

An ideal tissue engineered cardiac muscle replacement should:

• Display functional and morphological properties of native cardiac muscle
• Have mechanical, electrical, and functional integration into the heart's structure and provide improved systolic and diastolic function of damaged cardiac muscle
• Be contractile
• Be electrophysiologically stable
• Be mechanically robust and flexible
• Be vascularized or become vascularized quickly after implantation
• Be autologous

The goal of a tissue engineered cardiac muscle replacement is to replace dead or severely damaged cardiac tissue for regeneration of the injured heart to restore or enhance the contractile function of the failing myocardium. A future goal is to construct an entire tissue engineered heart organ.