| abstract |
Disclosed are compositions and methods that use modified cardiac fibroblast-derived three-dimensional extracellular matrix (ECM). The ECM includes the structural proteins fibronectin, collagen type I, collagen type III and elastin, and 60% to 90% of the structural proteins present in the modified extracellular matrix are fibronectin. A composition that can be used to treat heart disease, or ischemic disease or ischemic injury is an injectable composition, and the ECM is cut into small fragments or lyophilized into a powder. . The disclosed methods include methods for treating ischemic disease or ischemic injury by contacting damaged tissue without co-delivering therapeutic cells to cell-free patches made from ECM, and therapeutic Includes a method of treating ischemic limb injury by using cells to contact damaged limb tissue either to itself or to a seeded patch. |