The application of nanotechnology to the cardiovascular system has increasingly caught
scientists’ attention as a potentially powerful tool for the development of new generation
devices able to interface, repair, or boost the performance of cardiac tissue. Carbon
nanotubes (CNTs) are considered as promising materials for nanomedicine applications in
general and have been recently tested toward excitable cell growth. CNTs are cylindrically
shaped structures made up of rolled-up graphene sheets, with unique electrical,
thermal, and mechanical properties, able to effectively conducting electrical current in
electrochemical interfaces. CNTs-based scaffolds have been recently found to support
the in vitro growth of cardiac cells: in particular, their ability to improve cardiomyocytes
proliferation, maturation, and electrical behavior are making CNTs extremely attractive for
the development and exploitation of interfaces able to impact on cardiac cells physiology
and function.
