Hydrogels are widely used materials for cardiac tissue engineering. However, once the cells\nare encapsulated within hydrogels, mass transfer to the core of the engineered tissue is limited, and\ncell viability is compromised. Here, we report on the development of a channeled ECM-based\nnanofibrous hydrogel for engineering vascularized cardiac tissues. An omentum hydrogel was mixed\nwith cardiac cells, patterned to create channels and closed, and then seeded with endothelial cells to\nform open cellular lumens. A mathematical model was used to evaluate the necessity of the channels\nfor maintaining cell viability and the true potential of the vascularized hydrogel to form a viable\ncardiac patch was studied.
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