Tissue engineering is one of the hot topics in recent research that needs special requirements. It depends on the development of scafolds that allow tissue formation with certain characteristics, carbon nanotubes (CNTs)-collagen composite attracted the attention of the researchers with this respect. However, CNTs sufer from low water dispersibility, which hampered their utilization. Therefore, we aim to functionalize CNTs non-covalently with pyrene moiety using an appropriate hydrophilic linker derivatized from polyethylene glycol (PEG) terminated with hydroxyl or carboxyl group to disperse them in water. The functionalization of the CNTs is successfully confrmed by TEM, absorption spectroscopy, TGA, and zeta potential analysis. 3T3 cells-based engineered connective tissues (ECTs) are generated with diferent concentrations of the functionalized CNTs (f-CNTs). These tissues show a signifcant enhancement in electrical conductivity at a concentration of 0.025%, however, the cell viability is reduced by about 10 to 20%. All ECTs containing f-CNTs show a signifcant reduction in tissue fbrosis and matrix porosity relative to the control tissues. Taken together, the developed constructs show great potential for further in vivo studies as engineered tissue.

العنوان

nature

الناشر

scientific reports

بلد الناشر

المملكة المتحدة

نوع المنشور

Both (Printed and Online)

المجلد

--

السنة

--

الصفحات

17