Abstract：
Myocardial cardiopathy is one of the highest disease burdens worldwide. The damaged myocardium has little intrinsic repair ability, and as a result, the distorted muscle loses strength for contraction, producing arrhythmias and fainting, and entails a high risk of sudden death. Permanent implantable conductive hydrogels that can restore contraction strength and conductivity appear to be promising candidates for myocardium functional recovery. In this work, we present a printable cardiac hydrogel that can exert functional effects on networks of cardiac myocytes. The hydrogel matrix was designed from poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) dynamically cross-linked with gallic acid (GA) and the conductive polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT). The resulting patches exhibited excellent electrical conductivity, elasticity, and mechanical and contractile strengths, which are critical parameters for reinforcing weakened cardiac contraction and impulse propagation. Furthermore, the PVA-GA/PEDOT blend is suitable for direct ink writing via a melting extrusion. As a proof of concept, we have proven the efficiency of the patches in propagating the electrical signal in adult mouse cardiomyocytes through in vitro recordings of intracellular Ca2+ transients during cell stimulation. Finally, the patches were implanted in healthy mouse hearts to demonstrate their accommodation and biocompatibility. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed that the implants did not affect the essential functional parameters after 2 weeks, thus showing great potential for treating cardiomyopathies.
摘要：
心肌病是世界范围内负担最高的疾病之一。受损心肌缺乏内在修复能力，结果，扭曲的肌肉失去收缩的力量，产生心律失常和昏厥，并带来猝死的高风险。可以恢复收缩强度和电导率的永久性可植入导电水凝胶似乎是心肌功能恢复的有希望的候选者。在这项工作中,我们提出了一种可印刷的心脏水凝胶，可以对心肌细胞网络发挥功能作用。水凝胶基质是由与没食子酸（GA）动态交联的聚（乙烯醇）（PVA）和导电聚合物聚（3,4-亚乙基二氧噻吩）（PEDOT）设计的。所得的贴片表现出优异的导电性，弹性,以及机械和收缩强度，这些参数是增强减弱的心脏收缩和冲动传播的关键参数。此外，PVA-GA/PEDOT共混物适用于通过熔融挤出的直接墨水书写。作为概念的证明，我们已经通过细胞刺激过程中细胞内Ca2瞬变的体外记录证明了贴片在成年小鼠心肌细胞中传播电信号的效率。最后,这些贴片被植入健康的小鼠心脏，以证明它们的适应性和生物相容性。磁共振成像显示，植入物在2周后不影响基本功能参数，因此显示出治疗心肌病的巨大潜力。
