Bio-inspired Immobilization of Cell-Adhesive Ligands on Electrospun Nanofibrous Patches for Cell Delivery

Abstract

An electrospun fibrous mesh functionalized with a cell-adhesive peptide inspired by polydopamine coating is developed as a novel cardiac patch. The amount of polydopamine on the PLCL meshes is affected by several parameters such as pH, concentration, reaction time, and temperature. Immobilization of RGD peptide is then easily achieved on the polydopamine-coated meshes. The RGD-peptide-immobilized meshes increase adhesion of the myoblasts under serum-free conditions, and also significantly up-regulate their proliferation and the formation of multi-nucleated myotubes. Therefore, RGD-peptide-functionalized, electrospun cardiac patches prepared by polydopamine coating method can be a useful tool to replace damaged myocardium.