Three-dimensional culture of heart tissue constructs from heart progenitor cells on a polycaprolactone scaffold - optimization

Abstract Myocardial damage resulting from ischemia leads to the irreversible loss of cardiac function. Consequently, there is a critical need to develop effective therapies capable of regenerating damaged heart muscle. Tissue engineering (TE) enables the creation of functional tissues in vitro using cells, biologically active molecules, and scaffolding methods. To advance research on heart tissue culture on polycaprolactone (PCL) scaffolds, it is important to optimize culture methods to ensure adequate nutrient supply. In this study, different sera and various concentrations of heart tissue extracts were evaluated for their ability to support cardiac pseudo-tissue formation on PCL scaffolds using progenitor cells at different stages of differentiation. The results confirm the biocompatibility of PCL with cardiac progenitor cells. Cardiac progenitors, collected on the 8th embryonic day (8 ED), demonstrated the greatest potential for forming heart pseudo-tissue constructs when cultured with horse serum (HS) and an extract from homogenized hearts of 14-day-old chicken embryos as an additive to the culture medium. Cardiac progenitor cells collected on 12 ED exhibited the highest potential for creating pseudo-heart tissue constructs in the presence of HS, even without the addition of homogenized heart extract. Moreover, a high concentration of the extract reduced their ability to form structured tissue constructs. Overall, HS promoted more intensive cell proliferation in both 2D, and 3D cultures compared to foetal bovine serum (FBS). The absence of a vascular-like system limits the development of large tissue constructs, leading to nutritional deficiency and subsequent tissue degradation.