Rational Design of a Conductive Collagen Heart Patch.
Cardiovascular diseases, including myocardial infarction, are the cause of significant morbidity and mortality globally. Tissue engineering is a key emerging treatment method for supporting and repairing the cardiac scar tissue caused by myocardial infarction. Creating cell supportive scaffolds that can be directly implanted on a myocardial infarct is an attractive solution. Hydrogels made of collagen are highly biocompatible materials that can be molded into a range of shapes suitable for cardiac patch applications. The addition of mechanically reinforcing materials, carbon nanotubes, at subtoxic levels allows for the collagen hydrogels to be strengthened, up to a toughness of 30 J m-1and a two to threefold improvement in Youngs' modulus, thus improving their viability as cardiac patch materials. The addition of carbon nanotubes is shown to be both nontoxic to stem cells, and when using single-walled carbon nanotubes, supportive of live, beating cardiac cells, providing a pathway for the further development of a cardiac patch.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Linköping University, Linköping, SE-581 83, Sweden.
Peter C
PC
Sherrell
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Linköping University, Linköping, SE-581 83, Sweden.|Institute of Automatic Control, Silesian University of Technology, Gliwice, 44-100, Poland.
Artur
A
Cieślar-Pobuda
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Linköping University, Linköping, SE-581 83, Sweden.
Malin Silverå
MS
Ejneby
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Linköping University, Linköping, SE-581 83, Sweden.
Laura
L
Sammalisto
Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, Linköping University, Linköping, SE-581 83, Sweden.
Amy
A
Gelmi
Department of Medical and Health Sciences, and Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Linköping University, Linköping, SE-581 83, Sweden.
Ebo
E
de Muinck
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Linköping University, Linköping, SE-581 83, Sweden.
Johan
J
Brask
Malopolska Centre of Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7A str., 30-387, Kraków, Poland.
Marek J
MJ
Łos
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Linköping University, Linköping, SE-581 83, Sweden.|LinkoCare Life Sciences AB, Linköping, 583 30, Sweden.
Mehrdad
M
Rafat
D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry*; D003094:Collagen / Q000737:chemistry*; D008422:Materials Testing; D051379:Mice; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000473:pathology; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*
D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon; D003094:Collagen
carbon nanotube; collagen; hydrogel; myocardial infarction; stem cell