Electrical stimulation through conductive scaffolds for cardiomyocyte tissue engineering: Systematic review and narrative synthesis

Abstract

Electrical conductivity is of great significance to cardiac tissue engineering and permits the use of electrical stimulation in mimicking cardiac pacing. The development of biomaterials for tissue engineering can incorporate physical properties that are uncommon to standard cell culture and can facilitate improved cardiomyocyte function. In this review, the PICOT question asks, "How has the application of external electrical stimulation in conductive scaffolds for tissue engineering affected cardiomyocyte behavior in in vitro cell culture?" The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines, with predetermined inclusion and quality appraisal criteria, were used to assess publications from PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus. Results revealed carbon nanotubes to be the most common conductive agent in biomaterials and rodent-sourced cell types as the most common cardiomyocytes used. To assess cardiomyocytes, immunofluorescence was used most often, utilizing proteins, such as connexin 43, cardiac α-actinin, and cardiac troponins. It was determined that the modal average stimulation protocol comprised 1-3 V square biphasic 50-ms pulses at 1 Hz, applied toward the end of cell culture. The addition of electrical stimulation to in vitro culture has exemplified it as a powerful tool for cardiac tissue engineering and brings researchers closer to creating optimal artificial cardiac tissue constructs.

Selective Induction of Molecular Assembly to Tissue‐Level Anisotropy on Peptide‐Based Optoelectronic Cardiac Biointerfaces

“…[21][22][23] Previous literature has reported that electrical stimulation in conductive bioscaffolds can support cardiac cell viability, help promote maturation, and facilitate and increase gap junction protein expression. [24][25][26] Many of the biomaterials used in field stimulation showed low spatiotemporal resolutions for cellular stimulation, which could limit the extent of mechanistic studies involving cardiac electrical signaling. As such, light-based approaches that could increase the resolution of stimulation, most of them being based on synthetic materials if not relying on optogenetics, offer a minimally invasive way of doing so.…”

Selective induction of molecular- to tissue-level anisotropy on peptide-based optoelectronic cardiac biointerfaces

“…[18][19][20] Previous literature has reported that electrical stimulation in conductive bioscaffolds can support cardiac cell viability, help promote maturation, and facilitate and increase in gap junction protein expression. [21][22][23] Many of the biomaterials used in field stimulation showed low spatiotemporal resolutions for cellular stimulation, which could limit the extent of mechanistic studies involving cardiac electrical signaling. As such, light-based approaches that could increase the resolution of stimulation, most of them being based on synthetic materials if not relying in optogenetics, offer a minimally invasive way of doing so.…”