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 after myocardial infarction whose latest therapeutic methods are limited to slowing the end-state progression. Numerous strategies have been developed to meet the increased demand for 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 (CAs) 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 the incorporation of CAs into PGS (CA-PGS). In this context, the incorporation of the 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. The in vitro cytotoxicity assay with L929 murine fibroblast cells revealed that the CA-PGS composite did not have cytotoxic characteristics. On the other hand, the studies conducted with H9C2 rat cardiac myoblasts revealed that final structures were suitable for MTE applications according to the successes in cell adhesion, cell proliferation, and cell behavior.

Emerging Trends in Nanomedicine: Carbon-Based Nanomaterials for Healthcare

“…Atya et al (2021) investigated carbon nanosheet aerogels as scaffolds for cardiac tissue engineering. The aerogels supported cardiomyocyte adhesion and growth, offering potential applications in cardiac regeneration [153].…”

Polyglycerol Sebacate Elastomer: A Critical Overview of Synthetic Methods and Characterisation Techniques

“…Moreover, a high amount of purge gas and vacuum conditions are also required to accelerate the reaction, leading to the loss of glycerol during water by-product evaporation, modifying the reactant ratio and chemical composition of the final product [54]. Hence, alternative synthetic strategies have been proposed (Figure 2), including microwaveassisted polycondensation [53][54][55][56][57], photocuring [38,[58][59][60] and enzymatic synthesis [61][62][63].…”

Fumarate‐co‐PEG‐co‐sebacate photopolymer and its evaluation as a drug release system

“…In this context, poly(glycerol sebacate) and poly(glycerol adipate) outstand among other elastomeric polyester. [2][3][4][5][6][7][8] In poly(glycerol ester)s, and other polyester derived from polyhydroxylic alcohols, crosslinking or curing by formation of new esters linkages is mainly performed through thermal polycondensation reaction at the level of the polyol structure, giving rise to the formation 3D polymeric networks. This procedure often requires the exposure to high temperature (120 C) and long periods of time (even days), to achieve networks which have better mechanical properties and degradation profiles compared with the uncrosslinked precursors.…”

“…Therefore, new sets of bioelastomeric materials have been developed over the years and these materials caught a good piece of the attention of the polymer community as promising materials for tissue engineering applications. In this context, poly(glycerol sebacate) and poly(glycerol adipate) outstand among other elastomeric polyester 2–8 . In poly(glycerol ester)s, and other polyester derived from polyhydroxylic alcohols, crosslinking or curing by formation of new esters linkages is mainly performed through thermal polycondensation reaction at the level of the polyol structure, giving rise to the formation 3D polymeric networks.…”