Preparation of a porous conductive scaffold from aniline pentamer-modified polyurethane/PCL blend for cardiac tissue engineering

A novel biodegradable electroactive polyurethane containing aniline pentamer (AP) was blended with polycaprolactone (PCL). The prepared blend (PB) and PCL were further fabricated in to scaffolds using a mixture of poly(ethylene glycol) and salt particles in a double porogen particulate leaching and compression molding methodology. Scaffolds held open and interconnected pores having pore size ranging from several m to 150 mu m. PB scaffolds had compression modulus and strength of 4.1 and 1.3 MPa, respectively. The conductivity of the scaffold was measured as 10(-5) +/- 0.09 S.cm(-1) and preserved for at least 100 h post fabrication. Scaffolds supported neonatal cardiomyocytes adhesion and growth with PB showing more extensive effect on the expression of the cardiac genes involved in muscle contraction and relaxation (troponin-T) and cytoskeleton alignment (actinin-4). Our results highlight the potential of incorporation of AP as an electroactive moiety for induction of cardiomyocyte proliferation and repair of damaged heart tissue. (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 103A: 3179-3187, 2015.