Fabrication and characterization of carbon aerogel/poly(glycerol-sebacate) patches for cardiac tissue engineering

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are responsible for the major number of deaths around the world. Among these is heart failure (HF) after myocardial infarction (MI) whose latest therapeutic methods are limited to slowing the end-state progression. Numerous strategies have been developed to meet the increased demand of therapies regarding CVDs. This study aimed to establish a novel electrically conductive elastomer-based composite and assess its potential as a cardiac patch for myocardial tissue engineering. The electrically conductive carbon aerogels used in this study were derived from waste paper as a cost-effective carbon source and they were combined with the biodegradable poly(glycerol-sebacate) (PGS) elastomer to obtain an electrically conductive cardiac patch material. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report about the conductive composites obtained by incorporation of carbon aerogels into PGS (CA-PGS). In this context, the incorporation of the Carbon Aerogels (CAs) into the polymeric matrix significantly improved the elastic modulus (from 0.912 MPa for the pure PGS elastomer to 0.366 MPa for the CA-PGS) and the deformability (from 0.792 MPa for the pure PGS to 0.566 MPa for CA-PGS). Overall, the mechanical properties of the obtained structures were observed similar to the native myocardium. Furthermore, the addition of CAs made the obtained structures electrically conductive with a conductivity value of 65×10-3 S‧m-1 which falls within the range previously recorded for human myocardium. In terms of biological performance, the in vitro cytotoxicity experiment with L929 mouse fibroblast cells showed that the CA-PGS composite was not cytotoxic properties. On the other hand, the studies conducted with H9C2 rat cardiac myoblasts revealed that final structures were suitable for myocardial tissue engineering (MTE) applications according to the successes in cell adhesion, cell proliferation and cell behavior.