Novel injectable biomimetic hydrogels with carbon nanofibers and self assembled rosette nanotubes for myocardial applications

Abstract

The objective of the present in vitro study was to investigate cardiomyocyte functions, specifically their adhesion and proliferation, on injectable scaffolds containing RNT (rosette nanotubes) and CNF (carbon nanofibers) in a pHEMA (poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate)) hydrogel to determine their potential for myocardial tissue engineering applications. RNTs are novel biocompatible nanomaterials assembled from synthetic analogs of DNA bases guanine and cytosine that self-assemble within minutes when placed in aqueous solutions at body temperatures. These materials could potentially improve cardiomyocyte functions and solidification time of pHEMA and CNF composites. Because heart tissue is conductive, CNFs were added to pHEMA to increase the composite's conductivity. Our results showed that cardiomyocyte density increased after 4 h, 1 day, and 3 days with greater amounts of CNFs and greater amounts of RNTs in pHEMA (up to 10 mg mL(-1) CNFs and 0.05 mg mL(-1) RNTs). Factors that may have increased cardiomyocyte functions include greater wettability, conductivity, and an increase in surface nanoroughness with greater amounts of CNFs and RNTs. In effect, contact angles measured on the surface of the composites decreased while the conductivity and surface roughness increased as CNFs and RNTs content increased. Lastly, the ultimate tensile modulus decreased for composites with greater amounts of CNFs. In summary, the properties of these injectable composites make them promising candidates for myocardial tissue engineering applications and should be further studied.

Improving cardiac myocytes performance by carbon nanotubes platforms†

“…Similarly, Meng et al (2013) showed that human cardiomyocytes improve their adhesion and proliferation when cultured on a composite of carbon nanofibers and poly-2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (pHEMA, a biocompatible hydrogel) compared to pHEMA alone or tissue culture polystyrene, an effect strictly dependent on carbon nanofibers concentration (Meng et al, 2013). …”

Poly(ε-Caprolactone)–Carbon Nanotube Composite Scaffolds for Enhanced Cardiac Differentiation of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells

“…hMSCs have been shown to uptake electrically conductive carbon nanotubes (CNTs) without affecting cell viability, proliferation or differentiation capacity [18]. CNT-based culture substrates have been employed in a number of studies related to the maintenance or de novo formation of cardiac tissue, including maturation of cardiomyocyte precursors [3], injectable polymer/CNT composites for enhancing cardiomyocyte proliferation and function [19], and cardiac differentiation of stem cells [20]. Through the use of well-defined engineering systems, the findings from these studies have indicated that CNTs, electrical conductivity and/or electrical stimulation (ES) play a role in encouraging or modulating cardiac function; however, unlike some of the approaches to date, the electrospinning procedure presented here, as well as the materials used in this study, lend themselves to scalability at a low cost, which is a requisite for technologies to eventually see clinical translation.…”

Carbon nanotube-based substrates promote cardiogenesis in brown adipose-derived stem cells via β1-integrin-dependent TGF-β1 signaling pathway

“…More recently, carbon nanomaterials such as CNT and graphene have been demonstrated to favor the attachment and cardiomyogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells. [30][31][32] In addition, Notes: (A-C) Western blot showed activated β1-integrin protein expression in Bascs cultured on cNT-col scaffolds was twofold higher than those cultured on col scaffolds at day 7, while all β1-integrin remained roughly constant in these two groups. (D and E) Western blotting revealed the anti-β1-integrin antibody blocked the increase of α-actinin in the cNT-col group, while no apparent changes of α-actinin showed in Bascs grown in the control group.…”