A π-π conjugation-containing soft and conductive injectable polymer hydrogel highly efficiently rebuilds cardiac function after myocardial infarction

作者：Bao, Rui; Tan, Baoyu; Liang, Shuang; Zhang, Ning; Wang, Wei^*; Liu, Wenguang^*

来源：Biomaterials, 2017, 122: 63-71.

DOI：10.1016/j.biomaterials.2017.01.012

• pi-pi conjugation
• Conductive
• Injectable hydrogel
• Myocardial infarction

Previous studies suggested that a stiffer hydrogel system exhibited a better performance to promote heart function after myocardial infarction (MI). However, the nature of myocardium, a tissue that alternately contracts and relaxes with electrical impulses, leads us to hypothesize that a soft and conductive hydrogel may be in favor of mechanical and electrical signals transmission to enhance heart function after MI. In this work, pi-pi conjugation interaction was first employed to produce a soft injectable hydrogel with conductive property. Melamine with pi-pi conjugation ring was used as a core to synthesize a multi-armed crosslinker PEGDA700-Melamine (PEG-MEL), which could crosslink with thiol-modified hyaluronic acid (HA-SH) to form an injectable hydrogel rapidly. By incorporating graphene oxide (GO), the injectable PEG-MEL/HA-SH/GO hydrogel exhibited a soft (G' = 25 Pa) and anti-fatigue mechanical property and conductive property (G = 2.84 x 10(-4) S/cm). The hydrogel encapsulating adipose tissue-derived stromal cells (ADSCs) was injected into MI area of rats. The significant increase in cc Smooth Muscle Actin (alpha-SMA) and Connexin 43 (Cx43) expression confirmed that the gel efficiently promoted the transmission of mechanical and electrical signals. Meanwhile, a significant improvement of heart functions, such as distinct increase of ejection fraction (EF), smaller infarction size, less fibrosis area, and higher vessel density, was achieved.

• 出版日期2017-4
• 单位天津大学