Key result
Conductive nanofiber cardiac patch improves LVEF and attenuates post-MI remodeling in rats.
Why the study?
Myocardial infarction severely disrupts myocardial architecture and electrical integrity, motivating the engineering of biomimetic multi-strata electroactive scaffolds to mimic natural heart tissue for cardiac repair.
Does a biomimetic oriented nanofiber-reinforced conductive cardiac patch improve cardiac function, enhance electrical conduction, and attenuate structural remodeling in a rat model of myocardial infarction?
Does a biomimetic oriented nanofiber-reinforced conductive cardiac patch improve cardiac function, enhance electrical conduction, and attenuate structural remodeling in a rat model of myocardial infarction?
A biomimetic conductive cardiac patch that replicates the structural and electrical properties of natural heart tissue significantly improves cardiac functional recovery and attenuates ventricular remodeling post-myocardial infarction in rats.
Should not change clinical practice; leaves open translation of oriented nanofiber patches to larger models or humans.
The myocardium is a highly organized, multilayered anisotropic tissue in which the extracellular matrix (ECM) provides structural guidance for cardiomyocyte alignment, enabling synchronized contraction and efficient electrical conduction. Following myocardial infarction (MI), however, this intricate architecture and electrical integrity are severely disrupted, leading to impaired cardiac function and limited self-repair capacity. Consequently, engineering bio-inspired, multi-strata electroactive scaffolds capable of mimicking the essential architectural and physiological properties of natural heart tissue represents a vital strategy for successful cardiac repair. In this study, we constructed a biomimetic oriented nanofiber-reinforced conductive cardiac patch by integrating dopamine–polypyrrole (DA–PPy) with a GelMa hydrogel matrix. In vitro, the presence of multi-strata oriented nanofibers conferred directional electrical properties to the hydrogel while orchestrating the orderly arrangement of cardiomyocytes. This architecture ensured that cellular alignment followed the fiber axis within each layer, displaying a seamless transition across the stacked interfaces. In a rat MI model, the implanted cardiac patch exhibited remarkable therapeutic effects, including significant improvement of cardiac function, attenuation of ventricular wall thinning and fibrosis, reduced cardiomyocyte apoptosis and oxidative stress, and enhanced angiogenesis within the infarcted region. Furthermore, seeding cardiomyocytes onto the cardiac patch before implantation further amplified these reparative outcomes. Taken together, this work highlights the indispensable nature of re-establishing both the ECM’s structural integrity and its electrical properties to foster myocardial regrowth, while positioning our biomimetic conductive cardiac patch as a highly viable therapeutic modality for MI intervention.
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Cao et al. (2026) studied Myocardial infarction (n=31). Biomimetic oriented nanofiber-reinforced conductive cardiac patch (CM@GAF/PPy) vs. Untreated myocardial infarction (MI) was evaluated on Cardiac performance (LVEF, LVFS) and ventricular remodeling. Implantation of a biomimetic oriented nanofiber-reinforced conductive cardiac patch seeded with cardiomyocytes significantly improved left ventricular ejection fraction and attenuated ventricular wall thinning and fibrosis in rats following myocardial infarction.
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