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Intramyocardial Transplantation of MSC-Loading Injectable Hydrogels after Myocardial Infarction in a Murine Model
Published on: September 20, 2020
Synthesis and Characterization of Injectable Hydrogels with Varying Collagen⁻Chitosan⁻Thymosin β4 Composition for
Achmad Dzihan Shaghiera1, Prihartini Widiyanti2,3, Helmy Yusuf4
1Biomedical Engineering Study Program, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Airlangga University, Surabaya 60115, East Java, Indonesia. achmad.dzihan@gmail.com.
Insights
This study developed a collagen-chitosan hydrogel containing thymosin beta4 (Tβ4) for myocardial infarction treatment. The hydrogel successfully promoted blood vessel formation and heart cell migration, showing therapeutic potential.
Area of Science:
- Biomaterials Science
- Cardiovascular Research
- Regenerative Medicine
Background:
- Cardiovascular diseases cause 30% of global deaths, with ischemic heart disease and myocardial infarction accounting for over half.
- Myocardial infarction, resulting from blocked coronary arteries, leads to oxygen deprivation and heart tissue death.
- Injectable biomaterials offer a promising therapeutic strategy for repairing heart tissue post-myocardial infarction.
Purpose of the Study:
- To characterize collagen-chitosan hydrogels with varying chitosan content for myocardial infarction treatment.
- To evaluate the incorporation and efficacy of thymosin beta4 (Tβ4), a cardioprotective peptide, within these hydrogels.
- To assess the hydrogels' potential to promote angiogenesis and cardiac cell migration.
Main Methods:
- Fabrication of collagen-chitosan hydrogels with different chitosan compositions.
- Incorporation of thymosin beta4 (Tβ4) into the hydrogel matrix.
- Morphological analysis (pore structure), cytotoxicity testing, and histopathological examination (angiogenesis, cell migration).
Main Results:
- The prepared hydrogels exhibited a lack of interconnecting pores in their structure.
- Cytotoxicity tests confirmed that all hydrogel formulations were non-toxic to cells.
- Histopathological analysis revealed that collagen-chitosan-Tβ4 hydrogels significantly stimulated angiogenesis and epicardial cell migration, evidenced by increased blood vessel formation and myofibroblast infiltration.
Conclusions:
- Collagen-chitosan-thymosin beta4 hydrogels are non-toxic and possess the ability to promote crucial processes for myocardial infarction repair.
- These hydrogels demonstrate significant potential as a therapeutic biomaterial for enhancing cardiac tissue regeneration after myocardial infarction.
- The findings support the use of Tβ4-loaded hydrogels for stimulating angiogenesis and facilitating heart cell migration in treating myocardial infarction.
Abstract:
Thirty percent of global mortalities are caused by cardiovascular disease, and 54% of the aforementioned amount is instigated by ischemic heart disease that triggered myocardial infarction. Myocardial infarction is due to blood flow cessation in certain coronary arteries that causes lack of oxygen (ischemia) and stimulates myocardial necrosis. One of the methods to treat myocardial infarction consists in injecting cells or active biomolecules and biomaterials into heart infarction locations. This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of a collagen⁻chitosan-based hydrogel with variations in its chitosan composition. The prepared hydrogels contained thymosin β4 (Tβ4), a 43-amino acid peptide with angiogenic and cardioprotective properties which can act as a bioactive molecule for the treatment of myocardial infarction. A morphological structure analysis showed that the hydrogels lacked interconnecting pores. All samples were not toxic on the basis of a cytotoxicity test. A histopathological anatomy test showed that the collagen⁻chitosan⁻thymosin β4 hydrogels could stimulate angiogenesis and epicardial heart cell migration, as demonstrated by the evaluation of the number of blood vessels and the infiltration extent of myofibroblasts.
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