Cardiomyocyte (CM) alignment with striated myofibril organization is developed during early cardiac organogenesis. Previous work has successfully achieved in vitro CM alignment using a variety of biomaterial scaffolds and substrates with static topographic features. However, the cellular processes that occur during the response of CMs to dynamic surface topographic changes, which may provide a model of in vivo developmental progress of CM alignment within embryonic myocardium, remains poorly understood. To gain insights into these cellular processes involved in the response of CMs to dynamic topographic changes, we developed a dynamic topographic substrate that employs a shape memory polymer coated with polyelectrolyte multilayers to produce a flat-to-wrinkle surface transition when triggered by a change in incubation temperature. Using this system, we investigated cellular morphological alignment and intracellular myofibril reorganization in response to the dynamic wrinkle formation. Hence, we identified the progressive cellular processes of human-induced pluripotent stem cell-CMs in a time-dependent manner, which could provide a foundation for a mechanistic model of cardiac myofibril reorganization in response to extracellular microenvironment changes.

Focal adhesion complexes function as the mediators of cell-extracellular matrix interactions to sense and transmit the extracellular signals. Previous studies have demonstrated that cardiomyocyte focal adhesions can be modulated by surface topographic features. However, the response of focal adhesions to dynamic surface topographic changes remains underexplored. To study this dynamic responsiveness of focal adhesions, we utilized a shape memory polymer-based substrate that can produce a flat-to-wrinkle surface transition triggered by an increase of temperature. Using this dynamic culture system, we analyzed three proteins (paxillin, vinculin and zyxin) from different layers of the focal adhesion complex in response to dynamic extracellular topographic change. Hence, we quantified the dynamic profile of cardiomyocyte focal adhesion in a time-dependent manner, which provides new understanding of dynamic cardiac mechanobiology.

Freeze–thaw poly­(vinyl alcohol) hydrogels (PVA-H) offer great potential for several biomedical applications due to their biomimetic mechanical properties and biocompatibility. Despite these advantages, the use of PVA-H for load bearing applications has been limited due to poor performance in boundary lubrication compared to natural tissue such as articular cartilage. Recently, zwitterionic polymer brushes have been shown to act as effective boundary lubricants on rigid substrates; however, to the best of our knowledge, the synergistic effects of zwitterionic brushes coupled with the biomimetic fluid load support exhibited by hydrogels have not been reported. We report here on our investigation involving the synthesis and characterization of two unique types of polymer brush functionalized PVA hydrogels. The zwitterionic polymers that were compared contained either [2-(methacryloyloxy)­ethyl]­dimethyl-3-sulfopropyl­ammonium hydroxide, PMEDSAH, or 2-methacryloyl­oxyethyl­phosphoryl­choline, PMPC, repeating units. Both hydrogels coated with zwitterionic polymers were found to be cytocompatible. We report further on micrometer-scale surface properties via water contact angle goniometry, surface roughness measurements, and scanning electron microscopy. Finally, the impact of brush functionalization on the mechanics of the tribologically enhanced gels is reported with comparison to natural articular cartilage within the context of Hertzian contact theory.

Abstract. The drug coating process for coated drug-eluting stents (DES) has been identified as a key source of inter-and intra-batch variability in drug elution rates. Quality-by-design (QbD) principles were applied to gain an understanding of the ultrasonic spray coating process of DES. Statistically based design of experiments (DOE) were used to understand the relationship between ultrasonic atomization spray coating parameters and dependent variables such as coating mass ratio, roughness, drug solid state composite microstructure, and elution kinetics. Defect-free DES coatings composed of 70% 85:15 poly(DL-lactide-co-glycolide) and 30% everolimus were fabricated with a constant coating mass. The drug elution profile was characterized by a mathematical model describing biphasic release kinetics. Model coefficients were analyzed as a DOE response. Changes in ultrasonic coating processing conditions resulted in substantial changes in roughness and elution kinetics. Based on the outcome from the DOE study, a design space was defined in terms of the critical coating process parameters resulting in optimum coating roughness and drug elution. This QbD methodology can be useful to enhance the quality of coated DES.