Summary
Published in Journal of Mechanics in Medicine and Biology (2021), this peer-reviewed study used 3D Petri Dish® micro-molds to form scaffold-free 3D microtissues. Full citation: MARSH, SPENCER, et al. DYNAMIC BIOREACTOR MODEL TO MIMIC EARLY CARDIAC FIBROSIS IN DIABETES
DYNAMIC BIOREACTOR MODEL TO MIMIC EARLY CARDIAC FIBROSIS IN DIABETES
Research Overview
In diabetic cardiomyopathy, hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia injure tissue, activate cardiac fibroblasts, and drive interstitial and perivascular fibrosis, with myofibroblasts depositing collagen and suppressing matrix metalloproteinases. This study sought the best model of how high glucose activates human cardiac fibroblasts.
The profibrotic role of TGF-β and the protective modulation by nitric oxide were compared across 2D culture, 3D culture, and a tissue-engineered model in which cardiac fibroblasts grown within myocardial matrix scaffolds were mounted in a bioreactor delivering both biochemical and mechanical stimuli — testing which format best reproduces early fibrotic activation.
Key Discoveries
- High-glucose activation of human cardiac fibroblasts compared across 2D, 3D, and bioreactor tissue-engineered models
- TGF-β's profibrotic role and nitric oxide's protective effect examined in each format
- Myocardial-matrix scaffolds in a bioreactor supplied combined biochemical and mechanical stimulation
