Fabrication of a Nanofibrous Scaffold for the In Vitro Culture of Cardiac Progenitor Cells for Myocardial Regeneration

In this study, random Poly (E-caprolactone) (PCL):Poly glycolic acid (PGA) nanofibrous scaffold with various PCL:PGA compositions were fabricated by electrospinning method. The nanofibrous scaffolds were characterized by SEM, contact angle measurement, ATR-FTIR, and tensile measurements. The results showed that with the increase of the concentration of PGA in spinning blend solution, the average diameter of nanofibers, hydrophilicity, and mechanical properties of the nanofibrous scaffolds increased. An in vitro degradation study of PCL:PGA nanofibers were conducted in phosphate-buffered saline, pH 7.2. The experiments confirm that increasing of PGA provides faster degradation rate in blended nanofibers. To assay the biocompatibility and cell behavior on the nanofibrous scaffolds, cell attachment and spreading of cardiac progenitor cells seeded on the scaffolds were studied. The results indicate that among electrospun nanofibrous scaffolds, the most appropriate candidate for myocardial tissue engineering scaffolds is PCL:PGA (65:35).