Materials and Nanostructured Coatings for Soft Tissue Regeneration
type: CreativeWork
description: Despite several progresses in terms of early diagnosis and prevention, coronary heart disease and heart attack are still the most common causes of death in Western countries. Cardiac Regenerative Medicine appears to be a promising alternative to pharmacologic treatment or organ transplantation although cellular therapies based on progenitor cell injection are still problematic. Myocardial Tissue Engineering (MTE) is a Regenerative Medicine approach, able to integrate cell therapy with the use of polymeric substrates (myocardial scaffolds or heart patches) that can reduce cell loss and potentially prevent remodeling and fibrotic processes. In in vivo MTE strategies, scaffolds should be capable to recruit cardiac progenitor and differentiated cells which are present in the adult heart and promote their proliferation/differentiation. Consequently, these substrates have to meet strict requirements in terms of biological, mechanical, surface, biodegradability properties. In particular, they should mimic the natural Extracellular Matrix (ECM), achieving a chemical, morphological and mechanical biomimicry. In this thesis work, biomimetic polymeric constructs are proposed as heart patches for myocardial functions restoration and cardiac tissue regeneration after a myocardial infarction. These constructs were prepared as dense (films) and porous scaffolds from synthetic biodegradable polyurethanes (PURs), that were selected because of their chemical versatility and elastomeric mechanical behavior. In detail, poly(ester urethanes) and poly(ether ester urethanes) were synthesized starting from poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) as macrodiols, 1,4-diisocyanatobutane (BDI) as diisocyanate, L-Lysine Ethyl Ester and Alanine-Alanine-Lysine (AAK) as chain extenders. PCL was selected to confer biodegradability to the final PUR, while PEG was added in low amounts to tune wettability, mechanical and biological properties of films and scaffolds. BDI was selected …
abstract: Despite several progresses in terms of early diagnosis and prevention, coronary heart disease and heart attack are still the most common causes of death in Western countries. Cardiac Regenerative Medicine appears to be a promising alternative to pharmacologic treatment or organ transplantation although cellular therapies based on progenitor cell injection are still problematic. Myocardial Tissue Engineering (MTE) is a Regenerative Medicine approach, able to integrate cell therapy with the use of polymeric substrates (myocardial scaffolds or heart patches) that can reduce cell loss and potentially prevent remodeling and fibrotic processes. In in vivo MTE strategies, scaffolds should be capable to recruit cardiac progenitor and differentiated cells which are present in the adult heart and promote their proliferation/differentiation. Consequently, these substrates have to meet strict requirements in terms of biological, mechanical, surface, biodegradability properties. In particular, they should mimic the natural Extracellular Matrix (ECM), achieving a chemical, morphological and mechanical biomimicry. In this thesis work, biomimetic polymeric constructs are proposed as heart patches for myocardial functions restoration and cardiac tissue regeneration after a myocardial infarction. These constructs were prepared as dense (films) and porous scaffolds from synthetic biodegradable polyurethanes (PURs), that were selected because of their chemical versatility and elastomeric mechanical behavior. In detail, poly(ester urethanes) and poly(ether ester urethanes) were synthesized starting from poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) as macrodiols, 1,4-diisocyanatobutane (BDI) as diisocyanate, L-Lysine Ethyl Ester and Alanine-Alanine-Lysine (AAK) as chain extenders. PCL was selected to confer biodegradability to the final PUR, while PEG was added in low amounts to tune wettability, mechanical and biological properties of films and scaffolds. BDI was selected …
author: SILVESTRI, ANTONELLA
language: eng
keywords: Settore ING-IND/34 - Bioingegneria Industriale
date published: 2013
date modified: 2026-07-24T03:51:05Z
provider: Politecnico di Torino
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Politecnico di Torino

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11583/2507432

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.6092/polito/porto/2507432