A novel biomimetic nanofibrous cardiac tissue engineering scaffold with adjustable mechanical and electrical properties based on poly(glycerol sebacate) and polyaniline

Zebin Wu; Qiao Li; Lizhen Wang; Yang Zhang; Wei Liu; Shudong Zhao; Xuezheng Geng; Yubo Fan

doi:10.1016/j.mtbio.2023.100798

A novel biomimetic nanofibrous cardiac tissue engineering scaffold with adjustable mechanical and electrical properties based on poly(glycerol sebacate) and polyaniline

Mater Today Bio. 2023 Sep 17:23:100798. doi: 10.1016/j.mtbio.2023.100798. eCollection 2023 Dec.

Authors

Zebin Wu¹, Qiao Li^{1

2}, Lizhen Wang¹, Yang Zhang¹, Wei Liu³, Shudong Zhao¹, Xuezheng Geng¹, Yubo Fan^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory for Biomechanics and Mechanobiology of Ministry of Education, Beijing Advanced Innovation Centre for Biomedical Engineering, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100083, China.
² School of Engineering Medicine, Beihang University, Beijing 100083, China.
³ Department of Cardiology, Beijing Jishuitan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100035, China.

Abstract

Biomaterial tissue engineering scaffolds play a critical role in providing mechanical support, promoting cells growth and proliferation. However, due to the insulation and inappropriate stiffness of most biomaterials, there is an unmet need to engineer a biomimetic nanofibrous cardiac tissue engineering scaffold with tailorable mechanical and electrical properties. Here, we demonstrate for the first time the feasibility to generate a novel type of biocompatible fibrous scaffolds by blending elastic poly(glycerol sebacate) (PGS) and conductive polyaniline (PANI) with the help of a nontoxic carrier polymer, poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA). Aligned and random PGS/PANI scaffolds are successfully obtained after electrospinning, cross-linking, water and ethanol wash. Incorporating of different concentrations of PANI into PGS fibers, the fibrous sheets show enhanced conductivity and slower degradation rates while maintaining the favorable hemocompatibility. The elastic modulus of the PGS/PANI scaffolds is in the range of 0.65-2.18 MPa under wet conditions, which is similar to that of natural myocardium. All of these fibrous mats show good cell viability and were able to promote adhesion and proliferation of H9c2 cells. Furthermore, the in vivo host responses of both random and aligned scaffolds confirm their good biocompatibility. Therefore, these PGS/PANI scaffolds have great potential for cardiac tissue engineering.

Keywords: Cardiac tissue engineering; Fibrous scaffolds; Mechanical and electrical properties; Poly(glycerol sebacate).