Today the concept of Whole-Heart Tissue Engineering represents one of the most promising approaches to the challenge of synthesizing functional myocardial tissue. At the current state of scientific and technological knowledge it is a principal task to transfer findings of several existing and widely investigated models to the process of whole-organ tissue engineering. Hereby, we present the first bioreactor system that allows the integrated 3D biomechanical stimulation of a whole-heart construct while allowing for simultaneous controlled perfusion of the coronary system.
Keywords: 3D stretching; Biomechanical stimulation; Myocardial tissue engineering; Whole heart bioreactor; Whole-organ tissue engineering.