Myocardial infarction (MI) is still the leading cause of death worldwide. Many MI survivors develop recurrent heart failures, which results in poor prognosis. MI causes extensive damage to the cardiac tissue especially in adults having limited regeneration ability, through adverse remodeling because of fibrosis, increased oxidative stress and low micro-vascularisation. Biomaterial based regenerative therapies have demonstrated the potential to regenerate the infarcted heart but the clinical translation is yet to be achieved. Majority of these approaches focus on the angiogenesis and proliferation of cardiac cells without addressing critical remodeling changes (oxidative stress, inflammation, scar expansion). Moreover these therapies need to be minimally/non-invasive for easy clinical translation.

 

We aim to fabricate the sprayable polymeric cardiac patch that aims to attenuate the adverse cardiac remodelling. This minimally invasive cardiac patch will consist of a smart stimuli-responsive polymer super charged with pro-regenerative molecules. The therapeutics can be delivered through minimally invasive spraying and will form the cardiac patch in-situ. This novel strategy not only aims to promote cardiac regeneration by attenuating adverse cardiac remodeling but may also alleviate the complications of open heart surgery.