Bioprinting of cardiac tissues

Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in the world. Cardiac and heart valve tissue engineering in the past decade have made progress to recapitulate the native properties of the heart for cardiac regeneration and repair using a myriad of strategies, including concepts of biomaterials, micro-and nanotechnologies, and decellularization. However, one main obstacle for tissue engineering cardiac tissue is incorporating the complex, heterogeneous micro-and macro-cardiac tissue structures for different cell types to adhere, proliferate, and ultimately repair and remodel damaged tissue. 3D bioprinting has emerged as a strategy to address this challenge by providing the technology to fabricate high-resolution scaffolds with heterogeneous biochemical and mechanical properties. This chapter gives an overview of current strategies and limitations for cardiac and heart valve tissue engineering and the advances made in 3D bioprinting for cardiac repair.