Extrinsically Conductive Nanomaterials for Cardiac Tissue Engineering Applications

Abstract

Myocardial infarction (MI) is the consequence of coronary artery thrombosis resulting in ischemia and necrosis of the myocardium. As a result, billions of contractile cardiomyocytes are lost with poor innate regeneration capability. This degenerated tissue is replaced by collagen-rich fibrotic scar tissue as the usual body response to quickly repair the injury. The non-conductive nature of this tissue results in arrhythmias and asynchronous beating leading to total heart failure in the long run due to ventricular remodelling. Traditional pharmacological and assistive device approaches have failed to meet the utmost need for tissue regeneration to repair MI injuries. Engineered heart tissues (EHTs) seem promising alternatives, but their non-conductive nature could not resolve problems such as arrhythmias and asynchronous beating for long term in-vivo applications. The ability of nanotechnology to mimic the nano-bioarchitecture of the extracellular matrix and the potential of cardiac tissue engineering to engineer heart-like tissues makes it a unique combination to develop conductive constructs. Biomaterials blended with conductive nanomaterials could yield conductive constructs (referred to as extrinsically conductive). These cell-laden conductive constructs can alleviate cardiac functions when implanted in-vivo. A succinct review of the most promising applications of nanomaterials in cardiac tissue engineering to repair MI injuries is presented with a focus on extrinsically conductive nanomaterials.

Application of Nanomaterials in Stem Cell‐Based Therapeutics for Cardiac Repair and Regeneration

“…Recently, various NPs acting as regulatory factors of CM maturation, hormone‐driven signaling pathways, [ 156,157 ] intensive electrical stimulation, [ 158,159 ] and cell composition and matrix/media [ 160,161 ] have been extensively investigated, and will have a great impact on the field of cardiac repair and regeneration, as shown in Figures and .…”

“…Reproduced with permission. [ 156 ] Copyright 2021, MDPI. B) Cardiac tissue engineering based on conductive nanomaterial scaffold.…”

“…Recently, various NPs acting as regulatory factors of CM maturation, hormone-driven signaling pathways, [156,157] intensive Small 2023, 19,2206487 Figure 11. Types of nanomaterials in medical applications.…”

Application of conductive hydrogels in cardiac tissue engineering

“…Among them, conductivity is greatly essential to repairing myocardial tissue, because the conductivity of normal myocardium is about 1 mS/m, and non-conductive materials will hinder the transmission of electrical signals between myocardium and inhibit cardiac contraction (26). And the thickness of conductive Purkinje fibers in the heart is about 70 -80 μm, so conductive nanomaterials have great potential in imitating the micro / nano composition and conductivity of these heart tissues (27). Therefore, doping different conductive nanomaterials into the natural hydrogels matrix to maintain the original elasticity of the hydrogels and enhance the electrical conductivity is an effective method to develop bionic conductive structures in vitro.…”

Advancing Engineered Heart Muscle Tissue Complexity with Hydrogel Composites

“…For example, the addition of conductive nanomaterials to a hydrogel is a well-known method for tuning composite conductivity and a very active area of heart muscle tissue engineering research. [29,129,179,197,200,203,[215][216][217][218][219][220] The organization of conductive reinforcement may also create controlled pathways for electrical signal transmission as is the case with aligned conductive fibers within a hydrogel or porous scaffolds filled with a hydrogel. These structures can create directional conductivity that may be used to recreate the electrical anisotropy of the native myocardium.…”