Tissue engineering is one of the hot topics in recent research that needs special requirements. It
depends on the development of scaffolds that allow tissue formation with certain characteristics,
carbon nanotubes (CNTs)-collagen composite attracted the attention of the researchers with this
respect. However, CNTs suffer 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 confirmed by TEM,
absorption spectroscopy, TGA, and zeta potential analysis. 3T3 cells-based engineered connective
tissues (ECTs) are generated with different concentrations of the functionalized CNTs (f-CNTs). These
tissues show a significant 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 significant
reduction in tissue fibrosis and matrix porosity relative to the control tissues. Taken together, the
developed constructs show great potential for further in vivo studies as engineered tissue.

Title

Scientific reports

Publisher

nature

Publisher Country

United States of America

Indexing

Thomson Reuters

Impact Factor

4.99

Publication Type

Both (Printed and Online)

Volume

12

Year

2022

Pages

1-17