Bioinspired Device Improves The Cardiogenic Potential of Cardiac Progenitor Cells.

Objective: Functional cardiac tissue engineering holds promise as a candidate approach for myocardial infarction. Tissue engineering has emerged to generate functional tissue constructs and provide an alternative means to repair and regenerate damaged heart tissues.

Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, we fabricated a composite polycaprolactone (PCL)/gelatine electrospun scaffold with aligned nanofibres. The electrospinning parameters and optimum proportion of the PCL/ gelatine were tested to design a scaffold with aligned and homogenized nanofibres. Using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and mechanophysical testes, the PCL/gelatine composite scaffold with a ratio of 70:30 was selected. In order to simulate cardiac contraction, a developed mechanical loading device (MLD) was used to apply a mechanical stress with specific frequency and tensile rate to cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs) in the direction of the aligned nanofibres. Cell metabolic determination of CPCs was performed using real-time polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR).

Results: Physicochemical and mechanical characterization showed that the PCL/gelatine composite scaffold with a ratio of 70:30 was the best sample. In vitro analysis showed that the scaffold supported active metabolism and proliferation of CPCs, and the generation of uniform cellular constructs after five days. Real-time PCR analysis revealed elevated expressions of the specific genes for synchronizing beating cells ( MYH-6, TTN and CX-43 ) on the dynamic scaffolds compared to the control sample with a static culture system.

Conclusion: Our study provides a robust platform for generation of synchronized beating cells on a nanofibre patch that can be used in cardiac tissue engineering applications in the near future.