Fabrication and Preliminary Evaluation of Porous Electroactive Polyvinyl Alcohol/Sodium Alginate-Based Nanocomposite Scaffolds for Cardiac Tissue Engineering

The development of electroactive cardiac scaffolds became an imperative driven by the substantial clinical need and the minimal regeneration tendency of cardiomyocytes after myocardial infarction. A new series of 3D scaffolds has been developed and investigated for cardiac tissue engineering applications. The scaffolds are based on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-sodium alginate (AL) nanocomposite foams (NCFs) reinforced with different electrically conductive nanofillers, including silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs), polyaniline nanofibers (PANI-NFs), copper oxide nanoleaves (CuO-NLs) and graphene oxide nanosheets (GO-NSs), and have been fabricated utilizing gas foaming and lyophilization techniques. The influence of including different nanofillers on the microstructure, porosity, mechanical and electrical characteristics of the foamed scaffolds was scrutinized. Some significant parameters of the scaffolds were evaluated, including swelling degree, antioxidant efficiency as well as blood compatibility. The nanocomposite foams' microstructure, cellular morphology, and mechanical properties showed obvious dependence on the included nanofillers. DC conductivity measurements manifested a reduction in conductivity of the reinforced NCFs compared with the blend foam, except for NCF reinforced with GO-NSs. According to the obtained findings, all the fabricated nanocomposite foams proved their preliminary suitability as potential candidates for successful application in cardiac tissue engineering, particularly NCF reinforced with PANI-NFs and GO-NSs.