title: Expression of cardiac proteins in neonatal cardiomyocytes on PGS/fibrinogen core/shell substrate for Cardiac tissue engineering.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Heart failure due to myocardial infarction remains the leading cause of death worldwide owing to the inability of myocardial tissue regeneration. The aim of this study is to develop a core/shell fibrous cardiac patch having desirable mechanical properties and biocompatibility to engineer the infarcted myocardium.
  
  
  METHODS
  We fabricated poly(glycerol sebacate)/fibrinogen (PGS/fibrinogen) core/shell fibers with core as elastomeric PGS provides suitable mechanical properties comparable to that of native tissue and shell as fibrinogen to promote cell-biomaterial interactions. The PGS/fibrinogen core/shell fibers and fibrinogen nanofibers were characterized by SEM, contact angle and tensile testing to analyze the fiber morphology, wettability, and mechanical properties of the scaffold. The cell-scaffold interactions were analyzed using isolated neonatal cardiomyocytes for cell proliferation, confocal analysis for the expression of marker proteins α-actinin, Troponin-T, β-myosin heavy chain and connexin 43 and SEM analysis for cell morphology.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We observed PGS/fibrinogen core/shell fibers had a Young's modulus of about 3.28 ± 1.7 MPa, which was comparable to that of native myocardium. Neonatal cardiomyocytes cultured on these scaffolds showed normal expression of cardiac specific marker proteins α-actinin, Troponin, β-myosin heavy chain and connexin 43 to prove PGS/fibrinogen core/shell fibers have potential for cardiac tissue engineering.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results indicated that neonatal cardiomyocytes formed predominant gap junctions and expressed cardiac specific marker proteins on PGS/fibrinogen core/shell fibers compared to fibrinogen nanofibers, indicating PGS/fibrinogen core/shell fibers may serve as a suitable cardiac patch for the regeneration of infarcted myocardium.
authors.affiliation: Healthcare and Energy Materials Laboratory, Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Initiative, Faculty of Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Rajeswari
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ravichandran
authors.forename: Jayarama Reddy
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Venugopal
authors.forename: Subramanian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sundarrajan
authors.forename: Shayanti
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mukherjee
authors.forename: Radhakrishnan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sridhar
authors.forename: Seeram
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ramakrishna
mesh_terms: D000185:Actinin / Q000096:biosynthesis; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003651:Decanoates / Q000737:chemistry; D005340:Fibrinogen / Q000737:chemistry; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D005990:Glycerol / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry; D008840:Microfilament Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000378:metabolism*; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry; D051381:Rats; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds / Q000737:chemistry; D020107:Troponin T / Q000096:biosynthesis
chemical_list: D003651:Decanoates; D008840:Microfilament Proteins; D011108:Polymers; D020107:Troponin T; C469892:poly(glycerol-sebacate); D000185:Actinin; D005340:Fibrinogen; D005990:Glycerol