Regenerative Therapies Using Cell Sheet-Based Tissue Engineering for Cardiac Disease
Figure 1
The preparation of a cardiomyocyte sheet using a temperature-responsive culture dish without protease treatment. Typical cell harvest using proteases results in the disruption of cell-cell junctions including gap junctions, cell surface proteins including gap junction precursors, and extracellular matrix (ECM) (a). When temperature-responsive culture surfaces are used, the structures of cells are preserved and cultured cardiomyocytes are released as a contiguous cell sheet (b). A microphotograph shows the cross-sectional view of a cardiomyocyte sheet. Electrograms show the spontaneous action potentials of a cardiomyocyte sheet.
