Tri-Layered Vascular Grafts Guide Vascular Cells’ Native-like Arrangement

Abstract

Bionic grafts hold great promise for directing tissue regeneration. In vascular tissue engineering, although a large number of synthetic grafts have been constructed, these substitutes only partially recapitulated the tri-layered structure of native arteries. Synthetic polymers such as poly(l-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone) (PLCL) possess good biocompatibility, controllable degradation, remarkable processability, and sufficient mechanical strength. These properties of PLCL show great promise for fabricating synthetic vascular substitutes. Here, tri-layered PLCL vascular grafts (TVGs) composed of a smooth inner layer, circumferentially aligned fibrous middle layer, and randomly distributed fibrous outer layer were prepared by sequentially using ink printing, wet spinning, and electrospinning techniques. TVGs possessed kink resistance and sufficient mechanical properties (tensile strength, elastic modulus, suture retention strength, and burst pressure) equivalent to the gold standard conduits of clinical application, i.e., human saphenous veins and human internal mammary arteries. The stratified structure of TVGs exhibited a visible guiding effect on specific vascular cells including enhancing endothelial cell (EC) monolayer formation, favoring vascular smooth muscle cells’ (VSMCs) arrangement and elongation, and facilitating fibroblasts’ proliferation and junction establishment. Our research provides a new avenue for designing synthetic vascular grafts with polymers.

Preparation and performance of random- and oriented-fiber membranes with core–shell structures via coaxial electrospinning

“…Overall, all the fibers were connected without any beads or gross defects. The different arrangements of the fibers likely provided different physical, mechanical, and biocompatibility properties ( Dehghan and Khajeh Mehrizi, 2022 ; Ozdemir et al, 2022 ; Yuan et al, 2022 ). The subsequent experiments were conducted with random- and oriented-fiber membranes, and it was expected that the oriented-fiber membranes would be more helpful to the growth and proliferation of cells and promote the regeneration of new tissue.…”

Engineering a conduction-consistent cardiac patch with rGO/PLCL electrospun nanofibrous membranes and human iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes

“…Electrospinning is an emerging technology used in tissue engineering ( Shi et al, 2022 ). The manufacturing methods of electrospinning are readily adjustable and can provide cell-specific surface structures of the membranes, it has been used in several studies to guide cell arrangement ( Yuan et al, 2022 ). The results herein demonstrated that electrospun rGO/PLCL membranes effectively guided cell arrangement with excellent physicochemical properties and cell compatibility.…”

Multilayered blow-spun vascular prostheses with luminal surfaces in Nano/Micro range: the influence on endothelial cell and platelet adhesion

“…For instance, Yuan et al created prostheses in which inner, middle, and outer layers were produced by ink printing, wet spinning, and electrospinning, respectively. The authors claimed that only the combined use of the 3 methods allowed for the production of prostheses with the desired wall thickness and mechanical properties [31]. By combining E-jet 3D printing and electrospinning methods, Huang et al produced tri-layered prostheses, which exhibited better mechanical properties in comparison to electrospun monolayer grafts [30].…”