CARDIAC TISSUE REGENERATION: ADVANCES IN BIOTECHNOLOGY AND APPLICATIONS OF TISSUE ENGINEERING

Abstract

Heart diseases account for a substantial proportion of morbidity and mortality worldwide. They often cause irreversible damage to cardiac tissue and impair myocardial function. Since adult cardiomyocytes have limited regenerative capacity, conditions such as acute myocardial infarction lead to the replacement of functional tissue with fibrous scar tissue, which promotes cardiac remodeling and may result in heart failure. In this context, this article aimed to discuss how tissue engineering and biotechnology have become prominent in the development of strategies for cardiac regeneration. This study analyzes advances in biotechnology applied to cardiac tissue regeneration, including stem cells, biomaterials, scaffolds, and decellularized extracellular matrices. The integrative literature review was conducted based on national and international scientific studies on cardiovascular regenerative medicine, tissue engineering, cell therapy, and biomaterials. The studies show that biotechnological approaches promote cell adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation and help repair structural and functional damage to cardiac tissue. Three-dimensional scaffolds, hydrogels, extracellular matrices, and stem cell therapies are among the most widely studied strategies. However, challenges related to safety, clinical efficacy, vascularization, tissue integration, and methodological standardization still limit their use in clinical practice. Biotechnology and tissue engineering hold great potential for cardiac regeneration, but further studies are needed to confirm their therapeutic applicability.