The conductive
polymer polypyrrole was blended with
alginate to investigate its potential in tissue engineering applications. This study showed that increasing the
polypyrrole content altered the macroscopic structural morphology of the
polymer blend scaffold, but did not alter the overall conductivity of the
polymer blend, which was 10(-2)S/cm(2). Culturing of human umbilical vein endothelial cells on the
polymer blend scaffolds showed that addition of
polypyrrole mediated cell attachment to the
polymer scaffold. However, cell proliferation was dependent on the
polypyrrole content with 0.025% v/v
polypyrrole giving the best results. Using an
ischemia-reperfusion rat
myocardial infarction model, local injection of 0.025%
polypyrrole in
alginate polymer blend into the
infarct zone yielded significantly higher levels of arteriogenesis at 5 weeks post-treatment when compared with the saline control group and the
alginate only treatment group. In addition, this
alginate-
polypyrrole polymer blend significantly enhanced infiltration of myofibroblasts into the
infarct area when compared with the control group. The results of this study highlight the potential clinical benefit of using this
alginate-
polypyrrole polymer blend as an
injectable scaffold to repair ischemic myocardium after
myocardial infarction.