A chemically polymerized electrically conducting composite of polypyrrole nanoparticles and polyurethane for tissue engineering.

A variety of cell types respond to electrical stimuli; accordingly, many conducting polymers (CPs) have been used as tissue engineering (TE) scaffolds, and one such CP is polypyrrole (PPy). PPy is a well-studied biomaterial with potential TE applications because of its electrical conductivity and many other beneficial properties. Combining its characteristics with an elastomeric material, such as polyurethane (PU), may yield a hybrid scaffold with electrical activity and significant mechanical resilience. Pyrrole was in situ polymerized within a PU emulsion mixture in weight ratios of 1:100, 1:20, 1:10, and 1:5, respectively. Morphology, electrical conductivity, mechanical properties, and cytocompatibility with C2C12 myoblast cells were characterized. The polymerization resulted in a composite with a principle base of PU interspersed with an electrically percolating network of PPy nanoparticles. As the mass ratio of PPy to PU increased so did electrical conductivity of the composites. In addition, as the mass ratio of PPy to PU increased, stiffness of the composite increased while maximum elongation length decreased. Ultimate tensile strength was reduced by ~47% across all samples with the addition of PPy to the PU base. Cytocompatibility assay data indicated no significant cytotoxic effect from the composites. Static cellular seeding of C2C12 cells and subsequent differentiation showed myotube formation on the composite materials.