Intracellular calcium ions and morphological changes of cardiac myoblasts response to an intelligent biodegradable conducting copolymer

Highlights: • PLA-b-AP-b-PLA has potential application in cardiac tissue engineering has been investigated by culture of H9c2 cells. • The cell attachment, spreading and proliferation of H9c2 cells was promoted on the surface of the PAP copolymer. • Under the electrical stimulation, the cells on the copolymer emerged the structure of "pseudopodia". • The novel conducting copolymer can enhance electronic signals transferring between cells. - Abstract: A novel biodegradable conducting polymer, PLA-b-AP-b-PLA (PAP) triblock copolymer of poly (l-lactide) (PLA) and aniline pentamer (AP) with electroactivity and biodegradability, was synthesized and its potential application in cardiac tissue engineering was studied. The PAP copolymer presented better biocompatibility compared to PANi and PLA because of promoted cell adhesion and spreading of rat cardiac myoblasts (H9c2 cell line) on PAP/PLA thin film. After pulse electrical stimulation (5 V, 1 Hz, 500 ms) for 6 days, the proliferation ratio, and intracellular calcium concentration of H9c2 cells on PAP/PLA were improved significantly. Meanwhile, cell morphology changed by varying the pulse electrical signals. Especially, the oriented pseudopodia-like structure was observed from H9c2 cells on PAP/PLA after electrical stimulation. It is regarded that the novel conducting copolymer could enhance electronic signals transferring between cells because of its special electrochemical properties, which may result in the differentiation of cardiac myoblasts.