PNIPAAm-based biohybrid injectable hydrogel for cardiac tissue engineering
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1
Arizona State University, School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, United States
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2
Barrow Neurological Institute, Barrow Brain Tumor Research Center, United States
Injectable biomaterials offer a non-invasive method to deliver cells into the myocardial infarct region to maintain an adequate level of cellular retention and viability and promote the regeneration process. However, conventional injectable matrices suffer from either low bioactivity or poor mechanical properties. To that extent, in this work we introduced a biohybrid temperature-responsive PNIPAAm-Gelatin-based injectable hydrogel, with excellent bioactivity and mechanical robustness for cardiac tissue engineering. A unique feature of our work was performing extensive in vitro biological analyses to assess the functionalities of cardiomyocytes (CMs) alone and in co-culture with cardiac fibroblasts (CFs) within the hydrogel matrix. The synthesized injectable hydrogel exhibited suitable viscoelastic behavior and adequate water content to properly accommodate the cardiac cells. The encapsulated cells demonstrated a high level of survival and spreading throughout the matrix in both culture groups. A dense network of F-actin fibers illustrated the formation of an intact and three dimensional (3D) cardiac tissue construct within the hydrogel matrix. Furthermore, immunostaining images revealed typical phenotypic characteristics in cardiac cells. Interestingly, the co-culture group exhibited significant improvements in structural organization, cell-cell coupling, genes expression, as well as beating behavior. This study opens a new avenue for extensive in vitro characterizations of injectable matrices, using mono- and co-culture of cardiac cells, prior to in vivo experiments.
Keywords:
Hydrogel,
Regenerative Medicine,
MYOCARDIAL TISSUE,
Cell functionality
Conference:
10th World Biomaterials Congress, Montréal, Canada, 17 May - 22 May, 2016.
Presentation Type:
New Frontier Oral
Topic:
Biomaterials in constructing tissue substitutes
Citation:
Navaei
A,
Truong
D,
Heffernan
J,
Cutts
J,
Brafman
D,
Sirianni
R,
Vernon
B and
Nikkhah
M
(2016). PNIPAAm-based biohybrid injectable hydrogel for cardiac tissue engineering.
Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.
Conference Abstract:
10th World Biomaterials Congress.
doi: 10.3389/conf.FBIOE.2016.01.02417
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Received:
27 Mar 2016;
Published Online:
30 Mar 2016.