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Development and evaluation of axially aligned nanofibres for blood vessel tissue engineering
Author(s) -
Sankaran Krishna Kumar,
Vasanthan Kirthanashri Srinivasan,
Krishnan Uma Maheswari,
Sethuraman Swaminathan
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.835
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1932-7005
pISSN - 1932-6254
DOI - 10.1002/term.1566
Subject(s) - ultimate tensile strength , tissue engineering , materials science , biomedical engineering , polylactic acid , adhesion , scaffold , chemistry , polymer , composite material , medicine
Biodegradable polymers have been extensively used as scaffolds to regenerate lost tissues. The geometry of the three‐dimensional (3D) scaffolds has an influence on the cellular behaviour. In this study, we have developed 3D‐scaffolds of axially aligned nanofibres of poly(lactic acid) (PLA), poly(caprolactone) (PCL) and PLA:CL (50:50) with diameters in the range 100–400 nm, internal diameter 4 mm, length 4 cm and wall thickness 0.2 mm, by using a dynamic collector. PCL and PLA:CL nanofibres were significantly less hydrophobic than PLA nanofibres. The porosity of PCL (16.23 ± 9.88%) and PLA:CL nanofibres (14.77 ± 3.41%) were comparable, while PLA (6.57 ± 1.54%) nanofibres had lower porosity. The tensile strength and Young's modulus of PLA was significantly lower than PCL and PLA:CL nanofibres and the suture retention strengths of all three scaffolds were comparable. After 4 weeks, the molecular weight of PLA nanofibres was reduced by 53% compared to 44% and 41% for PCL and the PLA:CL nanofibres, respectively. However, the PLA:CL nanofibres maintained their structural integrity even after 28 days. Platelet adhesion studies showed that PCL nanofibres had least tendency to be thrombogenic, while PLA:CL blend nanofibres were highly thrombogenic. Further, in vitro responses such as cell adhesion, proliferation and gene expression of human umbilical vascular endothelial cells (HUVECs) were evaluated. After 6 days of culture, the surfaces of all the three scaffolds were completely covered with cells. Our results demonstrate that expression levels of elastin, angiopoietin, laminin‐4 α and ‐5 α were upregulated in PCL and PLA:CL nanofibres without the addition of any exogenous factors. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.