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Development of biomimetic thermoplastic polyurethane/fibroin small‐diameter vascular grafts via a novel electrospinning approach
Author(s) -
Yu Emily,
Mi HaoYang,
Zhang Jue,
Thomson James A.,
Turng LihSheng
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of biomedical materials research part a
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.849
H-Index - 150
eISSN - 1552-4965
pISSN - 1549-3296
DOI - 10.1002/jbm.a.36297
Subject(s) - materials science , electrospinning , fibroin , polyurethane , biocompatibility , thermoplastic polyurethane , composite material , biomedical engineering , polymer , silk , elastomer , medicine , metallurgy
A new electrospinning approach for fabricating vascular grafts with a layered, circumferentially aligned, and micro‐wavy fibrous structure similar to natural elastic tissues has been developed. The customized electrospinning collector was able to generate wavy fibers using the dynamic “jump rope” collecting process, which also solved the sample removal problem for mandrel‐type collectors. In this study, natural silk fibroin and synthetic thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) were combined at different weight ratios to produce hybrid small‐diameter vascular grafts. The purpose of combining these two materials was to leverage the bioactivity and tunable mechanical properties of these natural and synthetic materials. Results showed that the electrospun fiber morphology was highly influenced by the material compositions and solvents employed. All of the TPU/fibroin hybrid grafts had mechanical properties comparable to natural blood vessels. The circumferentially aligned and wavy biomimetic configuration provided the grafts with a sufficient toe region and the capacity for long‐term usage under repeated dilatation and contraction. Cell culture tests with human endothelial cells (EC) also revealed high cell viability and good biocompatibility for these grafts. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 106A: 985–996, 2018.