Influence of electrical stimulation on 3D-cultures of Adipose Tissue derived progenitor cells (ATDPCs) behavior

• Published in: 2012 Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Vol. 2012; pp. 5658 - 5661
• Main Authors: Castells-Sala, C., Sanchez, B., Recha-Sancho, L., Puig, V., Bragos, R., Semino, C. E.
• Format: Conference Proceeding Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States IEEE 01.01.2012
• Subjects: Adipose Tissue - cytology; Cells (biology); Cells, Cultured; Electric Stimulation; Electrical stimulation; Electrodes; Heart; Humans; Myocardium; Peptides; Stem cells; Stem Cells - cytology; Tissue Engineering; Tissue Scaffolds
• ISBN: 1424441196; 9781424441198
• ISSN: 1094-687X; 1557-170X; 1558-4615
• DOI: 10.1109/EMBC.2012.6347278

Tissue engineering has a fundamental role in regenerative medicine. Still today, the major motivation for cardiac regeneration is to design a platform that enables the complete tissue structure and physiological function regeneration of injured myocardium areas. Although tissue engineering approaches have been generally developed for two-dimensional (2D) culture systems, three-dimensional (3D) systems are being spotlighted as the means to mimic better in vivo cellular conditions. This manuscript examines the influence of electrical stimulation on 3D cultures of adipose tissue-derived progenitor cells (ATDPCs). ATDPCs cells were encapsulated into a self-assembling peptide nanoscaffold (RAD16-I) and continuously electro stimulated during 14-20 days with 2-ms pulses of 50mV/cm at a frequency of 1 Hz. Good cellular network formation and construct diameter reduction was observed in electro stimulated samples. Importantly, the process of electro stimulation does not disrupt cell viability or connectivity. As a future outlook, differentiation studies to cardiomyocytes-like cells will be performed analyzing gene profile and protein expression.