Highly Elastic Micropatterned Hydrogel for Engineering Functional Cardiac Tissue

Abstract

Heart failure is a major international health issue. Myocardial mass loss and lack of contractility are precursors to heart failure. Surgical demand for effective myocardial repair is tempered by a paucity of appropriate biological materials. These materials should conveniently replicate natural human tissue components, convey persistent elasticity, promote cell attachment, growth and conformability to direct cell orientation and functional performance. Here, microfabrication techniques are applied to recombinant human tropoelastin, the resilience-imparting protein found in all elastic human tissues, to generate photocrosslinked biological materials containing well-defined micropatterns. These highly elastic substrates are then used to engineer biomimetic cardiac tissue constructs. The micropatterned hydrogels, produced through photocrosslinking of methacrylated tropoelastin (MeTro), promote the attachment, spreading, alignment, function, and intercellular communication of cardiomyocytes by providing an elastic mechanical support that mimics their dynamic mechanical properties in vivo. The fabricated MeTro hydrogels also support the synchronous beating of cardiomyocytes in response to electrical field stimulation. These novel engineered micropatterned elastic gels are designed to be amenable to 3D modular assembly and establish a versatile, adaptable foundation for the modeling and regeneration of functional cardiac tissue with potential for application to other elastic tissues.

Bioinspired Nanocomposite Hydrogels with Highly Ordered Structures

“…To regenerate impaired biological tissue, hydrogel materials with well-ordered structures can serve as tissue engineering scaffolds that control cellular organization and alignment within a 3D environment. [142][143][144][145] Based on controllable ordered architectures, the fabricated nanocomposite hydrogel materials effectively mimic the native structure of tissues and replicate their biological function. By incorporating ordered and aligned nanocomposites, these composite hydrogel scaffolds with dimensions ranging from the microscale to the macroscale also display improved cell adhesion and proliferation within the 3D environment and enhanced mechanical performance (Figure 8b).…”

“…[142] Biological soft tissues possess highly aligned internal structures that endow living organisms with mechanical toughness and functionality. Biomimetic materials have received increased attention because of their robust functionality and potential applications as artificial tissues.…”

Multisensor-integrated organs-on-chips platform for automated and continual in situ monitoring of organoid behaviors

“…The cardiac organoid was also fabricated using the micropatterning technique where a photomask possessing parallel lines of 50 μm in width with 50-μm spacing was used to pattern the 5 wt% GelMA at the bottom of the microbioreactor chamber (56) (Fig. 4H and SI Appendix, Fig.…”

Concise Review: Mechanotransduction via p190RhoGAP Regulates a Switch Between Cardiomyogenic and Endothelial Lineages in Adult Cardiac Progenitors

“…Other groups have also cultured cardiac cells from a variety of sources on micropatterns or nanopatterns of anisotropic geometry composed of various materials [34,35], including alginate [36], elastic materials [37], or by providing CDCs get polarized and align in the direction of underlying nanotopographical cues. CDCs cultured on polyurethane substrates that are flat, or randomly organized are rounded, and not polarized, while those cultured on anisotropic grooves assume a polarized morphology on nanogrooves with mature actin stress fibers parallel to nanogrooves; scale bar 5 5 mm in above panel, and 10 mm in the lower panel [13].…”