Despite clinical advances, ischemic heart disease continues to be a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Prolonged cardiac ischemia and loss of cardiomyocytes frequently result in progressive pathological remodeling of the myocardium. If the heart is unable to adapt, patients may succumb to terminal heart failure. Cardiac tissue regeneration combining biodegradable biomaterials and stem cells has emerged as a new approach to restore heart function. Biomaterials, including injectable hydrogels and spongy scaffolds, can facilitate stem cell engraftment and survival and prevent adverse ventricular remodeling. Promising early results with injectable, biodegradable hydrogels for cardiac repair have provided new opportunities for designing innovative therapies to treat injured hearts.

Hydrogels can be made from natural or synthetic polymers and have a water content, flexibility, and other physiochemical characteristics similar to those of living tissue, which makes them excellent candidates for tissue repair. In addition, hydrogels can be used as a vehicle to deliver cytokines or cells to the heart and can be employed to encapsulate biological macromolecules or cells and release them into the surrounding tissues during degradation. Hydrogels undergo physicochemical modifications in response to changes in temperature or pH, depending upon their polymer composition, converting from a liquid to a gel. The gel form retains cytokine molecules, allows their prolonged, controlled release, and preserves their bioactivity for extended periods. Polyethylene glycol is a water-soluble, biocompatible polymer that has negligible immunogenicity and can produce efficient conjugation of hydrogels to growth factors. In this chapter, we provide insight into the composition, polymerization, and use of a temperature-sensitive, biodegradable, aliphatic polyester hydrogel that transforms to a gel at physiological temperatures and is a potential candidate for cardiac tissue regeneration.