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Preparation of an Electrically Conductive Graphene Oxide/Chitosan Scaffold for Cardiac Tissue Engineering

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Abstract

Cardiac tissue engineering is of great importance for therapeutic and pharmaceutical applications. The scaffolds that can provide electrical conductivity and structural organization will be highly beneficial for cardiac tissue engineering. Here, we developed conductive scaffolds with electrical conductivity and porous structure composed of chitosan (CS) blending with graphene oxide (GO) for cardiac tissue engineering. Our results showed that the swelling, porosity, and conductive properties of GO/CS scaffolds could be modulated via adjusting the ratio of GO to CS. More importantly, GO/CS scaffolds had a swelling ratio ranging from 23.20 to 27.38 (1000%) and their conductivity (0.134 S/m) fell in the range of reported conductivities for native cardiac tissue. Furthermore, we assessed their biological activity by seeding heart H9C2 cells in GO/CS scaffolds. Our data showed that these GO/CS scaffolds exhibited good cell viability, promotion of cell attachment and intercellular network formation, and upregulation of the cardiac-specific gene and protein expression involved in muscle conduction of electrical signals (Connexin-43). Overall, it is concluded that the GO/CS scaffolds promote the properties of cardiac tissue constructs. Our findings provide a new strategy and insight in developing new scaffolds for cardiac tissue engineering.

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Funding

This study was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFC1702006), the National Natural Science Foundation of China [31400307], the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [DUT14RC(3)016, DUT16RC(4)73]; the Liaoning Natural Science Foundation of China [201601033]; and the General Projects of Liaoning Education Department Science and Research Foundation [L2015111].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Life Science and Medicine, Dalian University of Technology, 2 Dagong Road, Liaodongwan New District, Panjin, 124221, China

    Lili Jiang, Daoyu Chen, Zhen Wang, Zhongmin Zhang, Yangliu Xia, Hongyu Xue & Yong Liu

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  1. Lili Jiang
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  2. Daoyu Chen
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  3. Zhen Wang
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Correspondence to Yong Liu.

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Jiang, L., Chen, D., Wang, Z. et al. Preparation of an Electrically Conductive Graphene Oxide/Chitosan Scaffold for Cardiac Tissue Engineering. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 188, 952–964 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-019-02967-6

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