A Novel Polypyrrole-polyurethane Patch for Cardiac Electric Signal Restoration

Myocardial fibrosis (MF), an event that follows myocardial infarction (MI), generates fibrotic scar tissue with significantly altered electrophysiological properties. As the scar tissue matures, its resistance to incoming action potentials increases, leading to irregular cardiac arrhythmia and, eventually, sudden cardiac death. We hypothesized that a conductive acellular epicardial patch made from biomaterials would electrically synchronize isolated cardiomyocytes in vitro; an observation that is critically important to proceed to in vivo treatment applications for MF-associated arrhythmia. To address the issue, we present a novel biomaterial referred to as PPy-PCNU. The material was synthesized in a uniquely defined route, whereby solid-state conductive nanoparticles of polypyrrole (PPy) were uniformly distributed inside electrospun aliphatic polycarbonate polyurethane (PCNU) nanofibers in a controlled manner. The resulting epicardial patch was biocompatible, conductive, accelerated cellular alignment, and promoted synchronous contraction of isolated neonatal rat cardiomyocytes in vitro.M.A.S