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Stacked silk-cell monolayers as a biomimetic three dimensional construct for cardiac tissue reconstruction
Shreya Mehrotra1, Samit Kumar Nandi, Biman B Mandal
1Biomaterial and Tissue Engineering Laboratory, Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati-781039, Assam, India. biman.mandal@iitg.ernet.in.
Non-mulberry silk fibroin films with nanogrooves promote cardiac tissue regeneration by guiding cardiomyocyte growth and maturation. This silk biomaterial shows promise for developing 3-D constructs for heart tissue engineering applications.
Area of Science:
- Biomaterials Science
- Tissue Engineering
- Regenerative Medicine
Background:
- Heart failure, caused by heart tissue necrosis, presents a significant global health challenge.
- Silk fibroin (SF) from mulberry (Bombyx mori) and non-mulberry (Antheraea assama) silkworms is explored as a biomaterial for cardiac repair.
- Combining cell sheet engineering with silk biomaterials offers a novel approach for cardiac tissue regeneration.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and characterize 3-D silk fibroin constructs for cardiac tissue engineering.
- To evaluate the compatibility and efficacy of patterned silk films with cardiomyocytes.
- To investigate the potential of non-mulberry silk fibroin for promoting cardiac tissue regeneration.
Main Methods:
- Fabrication and physico-chemical characterization of patterned silk films.
- Assessment of cardiomyocyte (primary rat cardiomyocytes and H9c2 cells) growth, proliferation, and maturation on silk films.
- In vitro and in vivo evaluation of silk film biocompatibility and immunogenicity.
- Stacking of aligned silk-cardiomyocyte monolayers to create 3-D constructs.
Main Results:
- Patterned silk films with nanogrooves provided contact guidance for unidirectional cardiomyocyte alignment.
- Non-mulberry silk films demonstrated superior mechanical strength and low immunogenicity.
- Cardiomyocytes grown on non-mulberry silk films showed enhanced growth, proliferation, and maturation, indicated by gene expression changes (MYHα, CX43, TNNI).
- Fabricated 3-D constructs exhibited structural integrity and uniform cellular distribution.
Conclusions:
- Non-mulberry Antheraea assama silk fibroin is a suitable biomaterial for cardiac tissue engineering.
- Silk-cardiomyocyte monolayers hold promise for developing functional 3-D cardiac tissue constructs.
- This approach offers a potential strategy for addressing heart tissue regeneration challenges.
