Scaffold for heart patch

• Main Author: Indran Kanisan Packery
• Other Authors: Tan Lay Poh
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Materials::Biomaterials
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/36172
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Unlike other organs in the body, the heart muscle has no replacement alternatives. The most challenging issue in myocardial tissue engineering is to create/regenerate the engineered heart muscle patch. The main objective of the present work was to fabricate a hydrogel that can adhere to soft tissues, which have great potential for medical applications. This hydrogel should be biodegradable and degradation products must be non-toxic, non-carcinogenic and be able to be removed from the body by natural processes. The tissue adhesion property of a hydrogel crosslinked with chemical crosslinking agent was investigated. The hydrogel was composed of gelatin and glutaraldehyde (GTA). The influence of various weight percentages of gelatin crosslinked was studied. Gelatin of different weight per volume percentages (5%, 10%, 15% and 20%) crosslinked with 1% (v/v) Glutaraldehyde (GTA) was performed. The water uptake was relatively similar for the 10%, 15% and 20% hydrogel for 3 days whereas 5% hydrogel dissolved completely in a day. Degradation rate indicated that the stability and integrity of 20% (w/v) crosslinked with GTA was higher (lower mass loss%) in comparison to other weight percentages. Cell culture compliance test of the samples was then performed. 20% gelatin remained intact and showed no dissolving of medium into gels had taken place whereas other weight percentages exhibited some form of dissolving. 20% (w/v) crosslinked gelatin illustrated higher modulus in comparison with other weight percentages of gelatin due to its higher stiffness. However, modulus decreased with increasing water uptake of the hydrogels after swelling.