Development of an injectable shear-thinning nanocomposite hydrogel for cardiac tissue engineering

Soltani, S., Emadi, R., Haghjooy Javanmard, S., Kharaziha, M., Rahmati, A., Thakur, V.K. and Lotfian, S., 2022. Development of an injectable shear-thinning nanocomposite hydrogel for cardiac tissue engineering. Gels, 8(2), p.121.

Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) offer a promising therapeutic
method for cardiac tissue regeneration. However, to monitor the fate of MSCs for tissue repair, a
better stem cell delivery carrier is needed. Developing a unique injectable and shear-thinning dual
cross-linked hybrid hydrogel for MSC delivery for cardiac tissue engineering is highly desirable. This
hydrogel was synthesised using guest: host reaction based on alginate-cyclodextrin (Alg-CD) and
adamantane-graphene oxide (Ad-GO). Here, the role of macromere concentration (10 and 12%) on
the MSC function is discussed. Our hybrid hydrogels reveal a suitable oxygen pathway required
for cell survival. However, this value is strongly dependent on the macromere concentrations,
while the hydrogels with 12% macromere concentration (2DC12) significantly enhanced the oxygen
permeability value (1.16-fold). Moreover, after two weeks of culture, rat MSCs (rMSCs) encapsulated
in Alg-GO hydrogels expressed troponin T (TNT) and GATA4 markers. Noticeably, the 2DC12
hydrogels enhance rMSCs differentiation markers (1.30-times for TNT and 1.21-times for GATA4).
Overall, our findings indicate that tuning the hydrogel compositions regulates the fate of encapsulated
rMSCs within hydrogels. These outcomes may promote the advancement of new multifunctional
platforms that consider the spatial and transient guidelines of undifferentiated cell destiny and
capacity even after transplantation for heart tissue regeneration