A Dexamethasone-Loaded Polymeric Electrospun Construct as a Tubular Cardiovascular Implant

Polymers, vol. 15, pp. 4332

Abstract

Cardiovascular tissue engineering is providing many solutions to cardiovascular diseases. The complex disease demands necessitating tissue-engineered constructs with enhanced functionality. In this study, we are presenting the production of a dexamethasone (DEX)-loaded electrospun tubular polymeric poly(l-lactide) (PLA) or poly(d,l-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) construct which contains iPSC-CMs (induced pluripotent stem cell cardiomyocytes), HUVSMCs (human umbilical vein smooth muscle cells), and HUVECs (human umbilical vein endothelial cells) embedded in fibrin gel. The electrospun tube diameter was calculated, as well as the DEX release for 50 days for 2 different DEX concentrations. Furthermore, we investigated the influence of the polymer composition and concentration on the function of the fibrin gels by imaging and quantification of CD31, alpha-smooth muscle actin (αSMA), collagen I (col I), sarcomeric alpha actinin (SAA), and Connexin 43 (Cx43). We evaluated the cytotoxicity and cell proliferation of HUVECs and HUVSMCs cultivated in PLA and PLGA polymeric sheets. The immunohistochemistry results showed efficient iPSC-CM marker expression, while the HUVEC toxicity was higher than the respective HUVSMC value. In total, our study emphasizes the combination of fibrin gel and electrospinning in a functionalized construct, which includes three cell types and provides useful insights of the DEX release and cytotoxicity in a tissue engineering perspective.

Authors 5

1. Stavroula Kyriakou Aachen Department of Biohybrid and Medical Textiles (BioTex) AME-Institute of Applied Medical Engineering

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Biohybrid & Medical Textiles (BioTex), AME—Institute of Applied Medical Engineering, Helmholtz Institute, RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany

2. Sergio Acosta Aachen Department of Biohybrid and Medical Textiles (BioTex) AME-Institute of Applied Medical Engineering

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Biohybrid & Medical Textiles (BioTex), AME—Institute of Applied Medical Engineering, Helmholtz Institute, RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany

3. Ikram El Maachi Aachen Department of Biohybrid and Medical Textiles (BioTex) AME-Institute of Applied Medical Engineering

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Biohybrid & Medical Textiles (BioTex), AME—Institute of Applied Medical Engineering, Helmholtz Institute, RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany

4. Stephan Rütten Aachen Electron Microscopy Facility

   Universitätsklinikum Aachen · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Electron Microscopy Facility, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, 52074 Aachen, Germany

5. Stefan Jockenhoevel corresponding Aachen Department of Biohybrid and Medical Textiles (BioTex) AME-Institute of Applied Medical Engineering

   Maastricht University · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   AMIBM—Aachen-Maastricht-Institute for Biobased Materials, Maastricht University, 6167 RD Geleen, The Netherlands

   Department of Biohybrid & Medical Textiles (BioTex), AME—Institute of Applied Medical Engineering, Helmholtz Institute, RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany