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Elastin and collagen enhances electrospun aligned polyurethane as scaffolds for vascular graft

journal contribution
posted on 2013-08-01, 00:00 authored by Cynthia Wong, Xin LiuXin Liu, Zhiguang Xu, Tong Lin, Xungai Wang
Mismatch in mechanical properties between synthetic vascular graft and arteries contribute to graft failure. The viscoelastic properties of arteries are conferred by elastin and collagen. In this study, the mechanical properties and cellular interactions of aligned nanofibrous polyurethane (PU) scaffolds blended with elastin, collagen or a mixture of both proteins were examined. Elastin softened PU to a peak stress and strain of 7.86 MPa and 112.28 % respectively, which are similar to those observed in blood vessels. Collagen-blended PU increased in peak stress to 28.14 MPa. The growth of smooth muscle cells (SMCs) on both collagen-blended and elastin/collagen-blended scaffold increased by 283 and 224 % respectively when compared to PU. Smooth muscle myosin staining indicated that the cells are contractile SMCs which are favored in vascular tissue engineering. Elastin and collagen are beneficial for creating compliant synthetic vascular grafts as elastin provided the necessary viscoelastic properties while collagen enhanced the cellular interactions.

History

Journal

Journal of materials science: materials in medicine

Volume

24

Issue

8

Pagination

1865 - 1874

Publisher

Springer US

Location

New York, N. Y.

ISSN

0957-4530

eISSN

1573-4838

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal