A first-in-man clinical study on a myocardial-derived decellularized extracellular matrix hydrogel suggested the potential for efficacy in chronic myocardial infarction (MI) patients. However, little is understood about the mechanism of action in chronic MI. In this study, the authors investigated the efficacy and mechanism by which the myocardial matrix hydrogel can mitigate negative left ventricular (LV) remodeling in a rat chronic MI model. Assessment of cardiac function via magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated preservation of LV volumes and apical wall thickening. Differential gene expression analyses showed the matrix is able to prevent further negative LV remodeling in the chronic MI model through modulation of the immune response, down-regulation of pathways involved in heart failure progression and fibrosis, and up-regulation of genes important for cardiac muscle contraction.
Keywords: CMR, cardiac magnetic resonance; ECM, extracellular matrix; EDV, end-diastolic volume; EF, ejection fraction; ESV, end-systolic volume; HF, heart failure; IHC, immunohistochemistry; KEGG, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes; LV, left ventricular; MI, myocardial infarction; MS, mass spectrometry; QconCAT, quantitative concatamer; biomaterials; chronic inflammation; chronic myocardial infarction; gene expression.
© 2021 The Authors.