Cardiac Tissue Creation with the Kenzan Method

There is currently an increasing demand for tissue-engineered cardiac patch creation. These techniques can be broadly classified into two categories based on the use, or lack thereof, of supporting biomaterials: also known as “scaffolds.” The scaffold-free method uses spheroids as building blocks and depends on the spheroids to produce their own extracellular matrix, which in turn directs the spheroids’ growth and development. This method creates patches with high biocompatibility, low excitability of immune responses, and integrated mechanical contractibility and electrical conductivity, in contrast with the scaffold dependent method. The Kenzan method is the most powerful and versatile technique available to create cardiac patches without scaffolds. In this paper, we reviewed cardiac patch creations with the Kenzan method and compared the patches with scaffold-based ones.