Novel polymeric micro-nanostructure meshes as blood vessels substitute have been developed and investigated as a potential solution to the lack of functional synthetic small diameter vascular prosthesis. A commercial elastomeric polyurethane (Tecoflex EG-80A) and a natural biopolymer (gelatin) were successfully co-electrospun from different spinnerets on a rotating mandrel to obtain composite meshes benefiting from the mechanical characteristics of the polyurethane and the natural biopolymer cytocompatibility. Morphological analysis showed a uniform integration of micrometric (Tecoflex) and nanometric (gelatin) fibers. Exposure of the composite meshes to vapors of aqueous glutaraldehyde solution was carried out, to stabilize the gelatin fibers in an aqueous environment. Uniaxial tensile testing in wet conditions demonstrated that the analyzed Tecoflex-Gelatin specimens possessed higher extensibility and lower elastic modulus than conventional synthetic grafts, providing a closer matching to native vessels. Biological evaluation highlighted that, as compared with meshes spun from Tecoflex alone, the electrospun composite constructs enhanced endothelial cells adhesion and proliferation, both in terms of cell number and morphology. Results suggest that composite Tecoflex-Gelatin meshes could be promising alternatives to conventional vascular grafts, deserving of further studies on both their mechanical behaviour and smooth muscle cell compatibility.
Melt electrospinning is one aspect of electrospinning with relatively little published literature, although the technique avoids solvent accumulation and/or toxicity which is favoured in certain applications In the study reported, we melt-electrospun blends of poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL) and an amphiphilic diblock copolymer consisting of poly(ethylene glycol) and PCL segments (PEG-block PCL) A custom-made electrospinning apparatus was built and various combinations of instrument parameters such as voltage and polymer feeding rate were investigated Pure PEG-block-PCL copolymer melt electrospinning did not result in consistent and uniform fibres due to the low molecular weight, while blends of PCL and PEG-block-PCL, for some parameter combinations and certain weight ratios of the two components, were able to produce continuous fibres significantly thinner (average diameter of ca 2 mu m) compared to pure PCL The PCL fibres obtained had average diameters ranging from 6 to 33 mu m and meshes were uniform for the lowest voltage employed while mesh uniformity decreased when the voltage was increased This approach shows that PCL and blends of PEG block-PCL and PCL can be readily processed by melt electrospinning to obtain fibrous meshes with varied average diameters and morphologies that are of interest for tissue engineering purpose
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.