Evaluation of Porcine Psoas Major as a Scaffold Material for Engineered Heart Tissues.

Decellularized porcine myocardium is commonly used as scaffolding for engineered heart tissues (EHTs). However, structural and mechanical heterogeneity in the myocardium complicates production of mechanically consistent tissues. Here, we evaluate the porcine psoas major muscle (tenderloin) as an alternative scaffold material. Head-to-head comparison of decellularized tenderloin and ventricular scaffolds showed only minor differences in mean biomechanical characteristics, but tenderloin scaffolds were less variable and less dependent on the region of origin than ventricular samples. The active contractile behavior of EHTs made by seeding tenderloin vs. ventricular scaffolds with human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes were also comparable, with only minor differences observed. Collectively, the data reveal that the behavior of EHTs produced from decellularized porcine psoas muscle behave in almost identical manner to those made from porcine left ventricular myocardium, with the advantages of being more homogeneous, biomechanically consistent, and readily obtainable.