| abstract |
Compositions and methods using an engineered cardiac fibroblast-derived 3-dimensional extracellular matrix (ECM) are disclosed. The ECM includes the structural proteins fibronectin, collagen type I, collagen type III, and elastin, and from 60% to 90% of the structural proteins present in the engineered extracellular matrix are fibronectin. The compositions, which can be used to treat cardiac disease or ischemic disease or injury, are injectable compositions, where the ECM is diced into small fragments or lyophilized into a powder. The disclosed methods include a method of treating ischemic disease or injury by contacting a cell free patch made from the ECM with the injured tissue, without the concomitant delivery of therapeutic cells, and a method of treating ischemic limb injury by contacting a patch, either by itself or seeded with therapeutic cells, with the injured limb tissue. |