Gelatin-Lysozyme Nanofibrils Electrospun Patches with Improved Mechanical, Antioxidant and Bioresorbability Properties for Myocardial Regeneration Applications

Biopolymeric patches show enormous potential for the regeneration of infarcted myocardium tissues. However, most of them usually lack appropriate mechanical performance, stability in water, and important functionalities; for instance, antioxidant activity. Protein nanofibrils, such as lysozyme nanofibrils (LNFs), are biocompatible nanostructures with excellent mechanical performance, water insolubility, and antioxidant activity exploited to fabricate materials for different biomedical applications. In this study, LNFs are used to produce gelatin electrospun nanocomposite cardiac patches with improved properties. The addition of the LNFs to the gelatin electrospun patches enhance their mechanical properties, increasing the patches Young's modulus from 3 to 6 MPa, in their wet state, which agrees with the requirements of myocardial contractility. Additionally, it is observed an increment of the antioxidant activity to 80%, by adding only 5% (w/w) of LNFs, and the bioresorbability rate is shortened to 30-35 d, compared to 45 d for the gelatin-only patches, while maintaining their morphology, and biocompatibility toward cardiomyoblasts and fibroblasts. Furthermore, 15% of a model drug is burst released from the patches and preserved for 21 d. Overall, these results demonstrate that LNFs have a great potential as functional reinforcements to fabricate biopolymeric electrospun patches for myocardial infarcted tissue regeneration.

Automated summary

Protein nanofibrils, specifically lysozyme nanofibrils (LNFs), are used to improve the properties of gelatin electrospun nanocomposite cardiac patches. The addition of LNFs enhances the mechanical properties and antioxidant activity of the patches while maintaining their morphology and biocompatibility. These results demonstrate the potential of LNFs as functional reinforcements for biopolymeric electrospun patches in myocardial infarcted tissue regeneration.