Sodium Alginate/Chitosan Scaffolds for Cardiac Tissue Engineering: The Influence of Its Three-Dimensional Material Preparation and the Use of Gold Nanoparticles

Abstract

Natural biopolymer scaffolds and conductive nanomaterials have been widely used in cardiac tissue engineering; however, there are still challenges in the scaffold fabrication, which include enhancing nutrient delivery, biocompatibility and properties that favor the growth, maturation and functionality of the generated tissue for therapeutic application. In the present work, different scaffolds prepared with sodium alginate and chitosan (alginate/chitosan) were fabricated with and without the addition of metal nanoparticles and how their fabrication affects cardiomyocyte growth was evaluated. The scaffolds (hydrogels) were dried by freeze drying using calcium gluconate as a crosslinking agent, and two types of metal nanoparticles were incorporated, gold (AuNp) and gold plus sodium alginate (AuNp+Alg). A physicochemical characterization of the scaffolds was carried out by swelling, degradation, permeability and infrared spectroscopy studies. The results show that the scaffolds obtained were highly porous (>90%) and hydrophilic, with swelling percentages of around 3000% and permeability of the order of 1 × 10−8 m2. In addition, the scaffolds proposed favored adhesion and spheroid formation, with cardiac markers expression such as tropomyosin, troponin I and cardiac myosin. The incorporation of AuNp+Alg increased cardiac protein expression and cell proliferation, thus demonstrating their potential use in cardiac tissue engineering.

Influence of Ultrasound on the Properties of Polysaccharide Complexes and Materials Based on Them

“…The studied samples showed high values of porosity, (>90%), which coincides with the data presented in [40]. For samples treated with ultrasound, the porosity values did not differ significantly.…”

Improving the development of human engineered cardiac tissue by gold nanorods embedded extracellular matrix for long-term viability

“…They have been shown as promising nanomaterials for biomedical-related applications from imaging to diagnostics. 34,35 Several studies have explored the incorporation of GNP into scaffolds, including alginate-chitosan, 36 poly (e-caprolactone), 37 gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) UV-crosslinked hydrogel layer of cardiac tissue patch, 38 and decellularized omental matrix. 39 These studies have demonstrated significantly enhanced cell adhesion, proliferation, and viability.…”

Formation of Alginate/Chitosan Interpenetrated Networks Revealed by EPR Spectroscopy

“…Recent years have seen an increased interest in alginate/chitosan systems due to their emerging applications in various areas, including the pharmaceutical and food industries for the encapsulation and controlled release of biologically active substances [ 11 ], in medicine for tissue engineering [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ], and in the environmental sciences for waste-water remediation [ 16 , 17 ].…”