A Novel Cross‐linked Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) for Vascular Grafts

Abstract

Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) is a water‐soluble synthetic polymer with excellent film‐forming, emulsifying, and adhesive properties. The aim of this study is to design a simple process for PVA cross‐linking with sodium trimetaphosphate to form membrane devices suitable for biomedical applications. This procedure requires no organic solvent, nor melting process to obtain films with high mechanical strength. Fabrication of a small diameter tube from a PVA film is easy with a single wrapping step around a Teflon rod. Dynamic mechanical analysis demonstrated that, upon removal of the applied stress, the PVA film with a Young's modulus of 2 × 105 kPa returns to its original size and shape. The wall thickness of PVA tubes is 344 ± 13 µm (n = 12), which is close to the wall thickness of a human artery (350–710 µm). Suture retention of a PVA tube is excellent (140 ± 11 g), close to that of human vessels. The burst pressure of PVA tubes is found to be 507 ± 25 mm Hg, more than three times higher than the human healthy systolic arterial pressure. Under arterial pressure, there was no leakage even after needle puncture, contrary to clinical vascular expanded polytetrafluoroethylene prostheses. Finally, PVA tubes of 2 mm in diameter are used to replace a segment of an infrarenal aorta in rats. For at least one week, no mechanical nor thrombotic complications are noticed even in the absence of anticoagulant or antiplatelet treatment. Graft patency is also evidenced with non‐invasive imaging techniques. As a conclusion, this novel cross‐linking method confers to poly(vinyl alcohol) particular mechanical properties such as compliance, elasticity and resistance to mechanical stress, compatible with the circulatory blood flow.

A strain-absorbing design for tissue–machine interfaces using a tunable adhesive gel

“…A biocompatible, photopatternable adhesive gel, referred to hereafter simply as an adhesive gel, was fabricated by dispersing PVA [14][15][16] , used as an adhesive agent, in a polyrotaxane matrix 17,18 , which acted as a UV-cross-linkable gel (see Fig. 2b and Methods).…”

Evaluation of cytotoxicity, biophysics and biomechanics of cells treated with functionalized hybrid nanomaterials

“…DNA can be used to represent the therapeutic agent (for genetic disorders) as well as a targeting moiety (nucleic acid based aptamers) [11,13]. PVA is a recognized biocompatible material that has been used for fabricating biomaterials, and hydrogel-based DDS for sustained release [37][38][39]. In particular, PVA is well known for its non-toxic, non-carcinogenic and bioadhesive properties [40].…”

Structural hydrogels

“…However, the geometry of the prepared gel tube was highly dependent on the mold size and the tube diameter in millimeter level. In fact, one of the most direct concepts for fabricating vascularized hydrogel constructs is the template method [143]. However, the template method is time-consuming and not suitable to fabricate complex hydrogel constructs.…”