Conductive cardiac patches have been proven to promote angiogenesis in infarcted myocardium; however, their conductive integrity, elasticity, and vascularization potential have not yet been optimized. The prevascularization of conductive elastic cardiac patches could be an effective strategy for building a substantial connection between the patch and the infarcted heart. Here, a coronary artery casting is introduced into a holey graphene oxide/polypyrrole‐incorporated polyhydroxyethyl methacrylate prefabricated gel to form a vascularized conductive elastic patch. The engineered patches are able to rebuild functional vascular anastomoses and provide strong electrical integration with infarcted hearts, resulting in effective myocardial infarction repair in vivo. RNA sequencing analyses further reveal that the conductive elastic patches under dynamic culture conditions upregulated cardiac muscle contraction‐ and ATP biosynthesis‐related mRNA expression in vitro. Together, this study demonstrates that the fabricated patches have versatile conductivity, elasticity, and vascularization properties, and could therefore be a promising candidate for heart repair.
Heart failure caused by acute myocardial infarction (MI) still remains the main cause of death worldwide. Development of conductive hydrogels provided a promising approach for the treatment of myocardial infarction. However, the therapeutic potential of these hydrogels is still limited by material toxicity or low conductivity. The latter directly affects the coupling and the propagation of electrical signals between cells. Here, a functional conductive hydrogel by combining hydrophilic and biocompatible poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) with conductive melanin nanoparticles under physical crosslinking conditions is prepared. The composite hydrogels prepared by a facile fabrication process of five freeze/thaw cycles possessed satisfying mechanical properties and conductivity close to those of the natural heart. The physical properties and biocompatibility are evaluated in vitro experiments, showing that the introduction of melanin particles successfully improved the elasticity, conductivity, and cell adhesion of PVA hydrogel. In vivo, the composite hydrogels can enhance the cardiac repair effect by reducing MI area, slowing down ventricular wall thinning, and promoting the vascularization of infarct area in MI rat model. It is believed that the melanin/PVA composite hydrogel may be a suitable candidate material for MI repair.
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