Patent ID: 7854944

Claim:
A method comprising: positioning a delivery device that provides vascular infusion or myocardial injection at a location in a vessel within the vasculature within a mammalian body; introducing by vascular infusion or myocardial injection to one of an infarct region and a perfused region of myocardium adjacent the infarct region an amount of a first treatment agent comprising a cellular component through the delivery device; and separately introducing by vascular infusion or myocardial injection to the other of the infarct region and the perfused region an amount of a second treatment agent disposed in a carrier particle through the delivery device, the second treatment agent selected from a group consisting of a growth factor, an inflammatory agent of nicotine or poly(methacrylic acid-co-methyl-methacrylate), and a homing factor having a property that will attract the cellular component; wherein introducing an amount of a second treatment agent disposed in a carrier particle comprises introducing a plurality of carrier particles, at least a portion of which comprise the amount of the second treatment agent, the carrier particles comprising a first group of carrier particles, at least one of the carrier particles of the first group having a diameter of from 5 μm to 30 μm to provide a first release rate and a second group of carrier particles, at least one of the carrier particles of the second group having a diameter between 30 μm and 80 μm to provide a second release rate different from the first release rate such that collectively a release rate of each of the plurality of microparticles defines a release rate gradient.