Review Article
Available Online: 13 Jul 2026
Importance of Cell Alignment in Cardiac Tissue Engineering
Volume 3
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Takahiro Kitsuka
tkitsuka@bwh.harvard.edu
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Kenichi Arai
kenarai@akita-pu.ac.jp
Native myocardium is a structurally anisotropic and electromechanically integrated tissue in which cardiomyocytes, extracellular matrix fibers, vascular structures, and conduction pathways are organized across multiple length scales. A key feature of this architecture is not a simple stack of discrete layers with slight misalignment, but a continuous transmural variation in predominant myofiber angle from the endocardial to the epicardial surface. This organization supports anisotropic electrical propagation, regional deformation, ventricular torsion,..
