Carbon nanotube-composite hydrogels promote intercalated disc assembly in engineered cardiac tissues through β1-integrin mediated FAK and RhoA pathway.

Abstract

Currently, the bottleneck to engineering cardiac tissues (ECTs) for cardiac regeneration is the lack of efficient cellular integrity among adjacent cells, especially the insufficient remodeling of intercalated discs (IDs) in ECTs. Recently, carbon nanotube (CNT) hydrogels provide an advantageous supporting microenvironment and therefore benefit greatly the functional performance of ECTs. Although their beneficial effect in modulating ECT performance is evident, the influence of CNTs on structural integrity of ECTs has not been studied in detail, and the mechanisms underlying the process remain to be determined. Here, we utilized carbon nanotube incorporated into gelatin with methacrylate anhydride (CNT/GelMA) hydrogels to construct cardiac tissues, determined the influence of CNTs on intercalated discs (IDs) assembly and formation and explored the underlying mechanisms.