192 Cell and Material Interface
mechanical strength while supporting cyclic contraction of the cardiac cells
(Walsh 2005; Camci-Unal etal. 2014; Lanza etal. 2014). Biomaterials can be
obtained naturally by either using cardiac tissue ECM (decellularized matrix)
(Wainwright etal. 2010; Duan etal. 2011) or can be chemically synthesized
(Chen et al. 2008). Natural biomaterials such as collagen are considered to
be suitable candidates for cardiac regeneration since they are biocompatible
in nature and induce different signals to cells through surface receptor inter-
actions (Vunjak-Novakovic etal. 2010). Furthermore, these materials can be
patterned using microcontact printing or micromolding techniques to provide
sufficient anisotropy for ...