As cardiomyocytes are highly metabolic, a porous scaffold that supports rapid vascularization is required. Additionally, the mechanical properties of the scaffold should closely match native heart tissue. Here we analyzed PU blends for porosity, pore size, and mechanical properties with and without the addition of sacrificial PEO particles. PEO incorporation increased scaffold porosity and pore size, reduced the Young's modulus closer to that of native heart tissue, but also led to scaffold shrinkage. Therefore, we anticipate low percentages of PU will be the most successful for cardiac patches and future work will analyze cellular infiltration to assess potential for vascularization, and vascularization subcutaneously in mice.
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