Gold Nanoparticle-Incorporated Polyurethane/Collagen Nanofibrous Scaffold as a Potential Cardiac Patch

Abstract

Due to the limited regeneration capacity of myocardial tissue after infarction, designing tissue engineering scaffolds are in demand. In the present study, electrospun nanofibrous scaffolds were made out of polyurethane, collagen and gold nanoparticles with random and aligned nanofiber morphologies. The nanoparticles were green-synthesized using saffron extract. Nanoparticle characterizations with UV-Vis. spectroscopy and DLS illustrated theoretical and hydrodynamic diameters of around 7 and 13 nm, respectively, having zeta potential of − 37 mV. SEM and TEM micrographs showed the morphology and diameters of obtained nanofibers. Also, further characterization were done by ATR-FTIR, XRD and TGA investigations and degradation studies. Contact angle measurements showed hydrophilic nature of the scaffolds (59 ± 0.6° for aligned PU/Col/Au50 nanofibers compared to 120 ± 2.6° for random PU nanofibers). Mechanical testing demonstrated appropriate tensile properties of the scaffolds for cardiac tissue engineering (Young’s modulus: 1.53 ± 0.07 MPa for aligned PU/Col/Au50 nanofibers compared to 0.4 ± 0.05 MPa for random PU nanofibers). Finally, alamar blue assay revealed proper survival of the cells of HUVEC cell line on the prepared scaffolds, where the highest percentages were observed for random and aligned PU/Col/Au50 nanofibers. According to the findings, the fabricated PU/Col/AuNPs nanofibrous scaffolds could be considered as potential cardiac patches.