Adaptable hydrogels for cardiac tissue engineering

This doctoral thesis is the fruition of three years of work in the development of an innovative biomaterial for cardiac tissue engineering (CTE) with the capacity to become a valid therapeutic alternative to address the challenges concomitant with myocardial infarction (MI), a prevalent public health problem and one of the main global causes of death. The proposed biomaterial combines pectin and gelatin, two natural polymers with complementary properties. Making the most of the unique characteristics of pectin derived from fruits and vegetables, and gelatin derived from collagen from animal tissues, the study aims to capitalize on the biocompatibility of both to create a scaffold in hydrogel format that facilitates the regeneration of damaged cardiac tissue, a crucial aspect to mitigate the consequences of MI. While the components of our strategy have been investigated individually in previous studies, the fusion of both biopolymers into a unified hydrogel matrix represents, to our knowledge, a pioneering approach.