Bioactive Electrospun Fibers of Poly(glycerol sebacate) and Poly(ε‐caprolactone) for Cardiac Patch Application

Abstract

Scaffolds for cardiac patch application must meet stringent requirements such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, and facilitate vascularization in the engineered tissue. Here, a bioactive, biocompatible, and biodegradable electrospun scaffold of poly(glycerol sebacate)-poly(ε-caprolactone) (PGS-PCL) is proposed as a potential scaffold for cardiac patch application. The fibers are smooth bead free with average diameter = 0.8 ± 0.3 μm, mean pore size = 2.2 ± 1.2 μm, porosity = 62 ± 4%, and permeability higher than that of control biological tissue. For the first time, bioactive PGS-PCL fibers functionalized with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) are developed, the approach used being chemical modification of the PGS-PCL fibers followed by subsequent binding of VEGF via amide bonding. The approach results in uniform immobilization of VEGF on the fibers; the concentrations are 1.0 μg cm(-2) for the PGS-PCL (H) and 0.60 μg cm(-2) for the PGS-PCL (L) samples. The bioactive scaffold supports the attachment and growth of seeded myogenic and vasculogenic cell lines. In fact, rat aortic endothelial cells also display angiogenic features indicating potential for the formation of vascular tree in the scaffold. These results therefore demonstrate the prospects of VEGF-functionalized PGS-PCL fibrous scaffold as promising matrix for cardiac patch application.

Morphological transformation of h BMSC from 2 D monolayer to 3 D microtissue on low‐crystallinity SF‐PCL patch with promotion of cardiomyogenesis

“…Recently, 3D microporous PCL scaffolds with pore sizes of 40–100 μm have been fabricated by selective laser sintering for cardiac tissue engineering (Yeong et al, ); others, with complex geometries, have been fabricated by electrodynamic jetting to potentially improve cell migration (Rai et al, ) during cell cultivation. Although cells proliferated in the 3D scaffolds, hardly any 3D cell aggregates or microtissues formed in the scaffolds.…”

Poly(Glycerol Sebacate)–Poly(l-Lactide) Nonwovens. Towards Attractive Electrospun Material for Tissue Engineering

“…The following years brought many publications in which electrospun PCL-PGS blends were investigated within fundamental and utilitarian scopes, starting from studies of structure and mechanical properties of nonwovens and fibers, through cell guidance and corneal tissues, until materials for heart valves and cardiac patches [10,[13][14][15][16][17]. Such approaches, where PGS prepolymer without subsequent crosslinking is reinforced by much tougher polyester with very good mechanical properties, and at the same time is carried by that polymer during the electrospinning process, may provoke thoughts that the elastomeric potential of PGS is wasted.…”

Elastic 3D‐Printed Hybrid Polymeric Scaffold Improves Cardiac Remodeling after Myocardial Infarction

“…Based on the biomimetic concept, we employed 3D printing to fabricate a multilayered hierarchical porous scaffold composed of the synthetic polymers PGS and PCL (Figure A,B). Although electrospun PGS‐PCL fibers have been reported for cardiac patch applications, the PGS component of PGS‐PCL nanofibers in the previous study were still un‐crosslinked, and the electrospun patches lacked precisely controlled microstructures. This approach was designed to impart the polymer scaffolds with hierarchical structures in multiple levels (Figure L–O).…”