Poly(Glycerol Sebacate)/Poly(Butylene Succinate-Butylene Dilinoleate) Fibrous Scaffolds for Cardiac Tissue Engineering

Abstract

The present article investigates the use of a novel electrospun fibrous blend of poly(glycerol sebacate) (PGS) and poly(butylene succinate-butylene dilinoleate) (PBS-DLA) as a candidate for cardiac tissue engineering. Random electrospun fibers with various PGS/PBS-DLA compositions (70/30, 60/40, 50/50, and 0/100) were fabricated. To examine the suitability of these fiber blends for heart patches, their morphology, as well as their physical, chemical, and mechanical properties were measured before examining their biocompatibility through cell adhesion. The fabricated fibers were bead-free and exhibited a relatively narrow diameter distribution. The addition of PBS-DLA to PGS resulted in an increase of the average fiber diameter, whereas increasing the amount of PBS-DLA decreased the hydrophilicity and the water uptake of the nanofibrous scaffolds to values that approached those of neat PBS-DLA nanofibers. Moreover, the addition of PBS-DLA significantly increased the elastic modulus. Initial toxicity studies with C2C12 myoblast cells up to 72 h confirmed nontoxic behavior of the blends. Immunofluorescence analyses and scanning electron microscopy analyses confirmed that C2C12 cells showed better cell attachment and proliferation on electrospun mats with higher PBS-DLA content. However, immunofluorescence analyses of the 3-day-old rat cardiomyocytes cultured for 2 and 5 days demonstrated better attachment on the 70/30 fibers containing well-aligned sarcomeres and expressing high amounts of connexin 43 in cellular junctions indicating efficient cell-to-cell communication. It can be concluded, therefore, that fibrous PGS/PBS-DLA scaffolds exhibit promising characteristics as a biomaterial for cardiac patch applications.

Fibers for hearts: A critical review on electrospinning for cardiac tissue engineering

“…An electrospun fibrous blend of PGS and poly(butylene succinate-butylene dilinoleate) (PBS-DLA) of different compositions was examined for its suitability for heart patches [113]. The addition of PBS-DLA to PGS resulted in an increase of the average fiber diameter, whereas increasing the amount of PBS-DLA the elastic modulus was increased as well as the hydrophobicity of the blended scaffolds.…”

Poly (Butylene Succinate) Scaffolds Prepared by Leaching

“…Literature shows PBS associated with other polymers as an efficient matrix to the preparation of scaffold. [13][14][15][16] Mostly, expensive techniques, such as electro-spinning, are used to the preparation of these materials. 16 Thus, PBS was used here to prepare scaffolds by leaching using NaCl as a cheap porogenic agent.…”

The effect of fluid shear stress on the in vitro degradation of poly(lactide‐co‐glycolide) acid membranes

“…Particularly, due to the great biocompatibility and good processability of PLGA, it has promising applications in the field of percutaneous angioplasty and stenting treatment, as PLGA can be utilized for coating drug‐eluting stents (DES) and fabricating biodegradable stents. Another application that requires biodegradable polymers is that of heart patches, as they can be used to regenerate heart tissue …”

“…Another application that requires biodegradable polymers is that of heart patches, as they can be used to regenerate heart tissue. 38 During the implantation, biodegradable medical devices composed of PLGA-like vascular stents and heart patches are supposed to have the mechanical properties (such as strength and stiffness) of the surrounding tissue and the adequate degradation time, which matches the healing process or regeneration rate of the tissue. But the physiological and biochemical environments in vivo are too complex to keep the degradation rate of PLGA at ideal rate.…”