title: Hybrid hydrogels containing vertically aligned carbon nanotubes with anisotropic electrical conductivity for muscle myofiber fabrication.
abstract: Biological scaffolds with tunable electrical and mechanical properties are of great interest in many different fields, such as regenerative medicine, biorobotics, and biosensing. In this study, dielectrophoresis (DEP) was used to vertically align carbon nanotubes (CNTs) within methacrylated gelatin (GelMA) hydrogels in a robust, simple, and rapid manner. GelMA-aligned CNT hydrogels showed anisotropic electrical conductivity and superior mechanical properties compared with pristine GelMA hydrogels and GelMA hydrogels containing randomly distributed CNTs. Skeletal muscle cells grown on vertically aligned CNTs in GelMA hydrogels yielded a higher number of functional myofibers than cells that were cultured on hydrogels with randomly distributed CNTs and horizontally aligned CNTs, as confirmed by the expression of myogenic genes and proteins. In addition, the myogenic gene and protein expression increased more profoundly after applying electrical stimulation along the direction of the aligned CNTs due to the anisotropic conductivity of the hybrid GelMA-vertically aligned CNT hydrogels. We believe that platform could attract great attention in other biomedical applications, such as biosensing, bioelectronics, and creating functional biomedical devices.
authors.affiliation: 1] WPI-Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan [2].
authors.forename: Samad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ahadian
authors.affiliation: 1] WPI-Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan [2].
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ramón-Azcón
authors.affiliation: International Center for Young Scientists (ICYS), National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Tsukuba 305-0047, Japan.
authors.forename: Mehdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Estili
authors.affiliation: WPI-Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan.
authors.forename: Xiaobin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: WPI-Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan.
authors.forename: Serge
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ostrovidov
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8579, Japan.
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shiku
authors.affiliation: 1] WPI-Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan [2] Centre for Stem Cell Research, A unit of the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, ChristianMedical College Campus,, Vellore 632002, India [3] Institut National de la Santé Et de la Recherche Médicale U977, Faculté de Chirurgie Dentaire, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg 67085, France.
authors.forename: Murugan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ramalingam
authors.affiliation: WPI-Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan.
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakajima
authors.affiliation: Materials Processing Unit, National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Tsukuba 305-0047, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sakka
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Bioscience and Technology, Department of Bioindustrial Technologies, Konkuk University, Hwayang-dong, Kwangjin-gu, Seoul 143-701, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Hojae
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bae
authors.affiliation: 1] WPI-Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan [2] Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8579, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomokazu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsue
authors.affiliation: 1] WPI-Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan [2] Department of Medicine, Center for Biomedical Engineering, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA [3] Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA [4] Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA [5] Department of Maxillofacial Biomedical Engineering and Institute of Oral Biology, School of Dentistry, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 130-701, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khademhosseini
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016880:Anisotropy; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002470:Cell Survival; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D004586:Electrophoresis; D005780:Gelatin / Q000737:chemistry; D015870:Gene Expression; D020100:Hydrogels / Q000737:chemistry*; D051379:Mice; D018485:Muscle Fibers, Skeletal / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D009124:Muscle Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D032446:Myoblasts / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds
chemical_list: D020100:Hydrogels; D009124:Muscle Proteins; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon; D005780:Gelatin