Polyaniline, an electroactive polymer, supports adhesion and proliferation of cardiac myoblasts

Abstract

Conductive polymers, such as polypyrrole, have recently been studied as potential surfaces/matrices for cell- and tissue-culture applications. We have investigated the adhesion and proliferation properties of H9c2 cardiac myoblasts on a conductive polyaniline substrate. Both the non-conductive emeraldine base (PANi) and its conductive salt (E-PANi) forms of polyaniline were found to be biocompatible, viz., allowing for cell attachment and proliferation and, in the case of E-PANi, maintaining electrical conductivity. By comparison to tissue-culture-treated polystyrene (TCP), the initial adhesion of H9c2 cells to both PANi and E-PANi was slightly reduced by 7% (P < 0.05, n = 18). By contrast, the overall rate of cell proliferation on the conductive surfaces, although initially decreased, was similar to control TCP surfaces. After 6 days in culture on the different surfaces, the cells formed confluent monolayers which were morphologically indistinguishable. Furthermore, we observed that E-PANi, when maintained in an aqueous physiologic environment, retained a significant level of electrical conductivity for at least 100 h, even though this conductivity gradually decreased by about 3 orders of magnitude over time. These results demonstrate the potential for using polyaniline as an electroactive polymer in the culture of excitable cells and open the possibility of using this material as an electroactive scaffold for cardiac and/or neuronal tissue engineering applications that require biocompatibility of conductive polymers.

Piezoelectric polymers as biomaterials for tissue engineering applications

“…In this way, adhesion and proliferation of cardiac myoblasts (H9c2) on conductive PANI substrates have been reported [98]. Both non-conductive emeraldine base and conductive salts forms of PANI were found to be biocompatible and to support cell attachment and proliferation, which attracted much attention of this material for tissue and biomedical applications.…”

Electrospun Nanofibrous Materials for Neural Tissue Engineering

“…Electrically stimulated random and aligned scaffolds enhanced the neurite length of DRGs by 83% and 47%, respectively, relative to unstimulated controls. Another electrically conductive polymer, polyaniline (PANI), has gained recent interest in tissue engineering applications [51][52][53]. Electrospinning a polymer blend of PANI with PCL/gelatin enhanced nerve stem cell proliferation and neurite outgrowth, when electrically stimulated [54].…”

Conductive gelatin methacrylate-poly(aniline) hydrogel for cell encapsulation

“…[21][22][23][24][25] The use of PANi in engineering cell-laden three-dimensional biomimetic constructs has been limited due to its difficult and non-biocompatible processing steps and its insolubility in common solvents. [17,[26][27][28] Previously, we have reported that PANi can be integrated with synthetic PEGDA and naturally derived gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) hydrogels in situ in order to develop 3D conductive-hydrogels that are sufficiently biocompatible with seeded cells. [29,30] However, like studies similar to ours, the harsh processing methods were incompatible with cell encapsulation approaches.…”