Methods and compositions for treating congestive heart failure

A method of treating a human patient with congestive heart failure, comprising implanting or attaching to damaged areas of heart tissue of a human patient with congestive heart failure one or more cohesive pieces of cultured three-dimensional tissue comprising a biocompatible three-dimensional scaffold containing living cells selected from the group fibroblasts, smooth muscle cells, cardiac muscle cells, stem or progenitor cells, endothelial cells, macrophages, monocytes, adipocytes, pericytes and reticular cells, to create a treatment area of 15 cm2 to 50 cm2.

A method of treating a human patient with congestive heart failure, comprising implanting or attaching to damaged areas of heart tissue of a human patient with congestive heart failure two or more cohesive pieces of cultured three-dimensional tissue comprising a biocompatible three-dimensional scaffold containing living cells selected from the group fibroblasts, smooth muscle cells, cardiac muscle cells, stem or progenitor cells, endothelial cells, macrophages, monocytes, adipocytes, pericytes and reticular cells, to create a treatment area of 35 cm2 to 175 cm2.

A construct comprising cardiomyocytes, cardiac stem cells, or progenitors thereof adhered to a three-dimensional fibroblast construct, wherein the construct is capable of spontaneous synchronized contractions across the three-dimensional fibroblast construct;

• and wherein the cardiomyocytes, cardiac stem cells, or progenitors thereof are seeded on the construct at a density of between 0.5×106 cells/cm2 and 5×106 cells/cm2 and the cardiomyocytes, cardiac stem cells, or progenitors thereof are present in a ratio of between about 1:10 and about 10:1 with fibroblasts on the three-dimensional fibroblast construct.

A method for seeding a three dimensional fibroblast construct (3DFC) with cells, comprising:

• (a) contacting a cultured three-dimensional fibroblast construct with a cell sheet to be seeded onto the three-dimensional fibroblast construct;
• and
• (b) culturing the cell sheet under conditions suitable for the cell sheet to adhere to the three-dimensional fibroblast construct.