Fig. 1.

Process schematics. Albumin is electrospun into two thick mats. The first mat is covered with a shadow masks and 600 nm thick Au electrodes are evaporated onto it. The second mat is used as a passivation layer; holes specific to the electrode pad locations are defined using laser patterning. The two layers are assembled into a complete device using an ECM-based hydrogel as an adhesive. Following, a layer of polypyrrole loaded with dexamethasone is deposited onto selected electrodes. Finally, neonatal rat ventricular cardiomyocytes are seeded onto the device and are allowed to organize into a functional cardiac tissue. By connecting the device to an external amplifier, extracellular signals may be recorded from the tissue and stimuli may be delivered to the device for pacing and drug release.