Publication details

Authors: Hong, Yi; Ye, Sang-Ho; Nieponice, Alejandro; Soletti, Lorenzo; Vorp, David A.; Wagner, William R. 
Title: A small diameter, fibrous vascular conduit generated from a poly(ester urethane)urea and phospholipid polymer blend. 
Type: Journal Article 
Publisher: Biomaterials 
Year: 2009 
Volume: 30 
Issue: 13 
Start Page: 2457 
End Page: 2467 
Abstract: The thrombotic and hyperplastic limitations assocd. with synthetic small diam. vascular grafts have generated sustained interest in finding a tissue engineering soln. for autologous vascular segment generation in situ. One approach is to place a biodegradable scaffold at the site that would provide acute mech. support while vascular tissue develops. To generate a scaffold that possessed both non-thrombogenic character and mech. properties appropriate for vascular tissue, a biodegradable poly(ester urethane)urea (PEUU) and non-thrombogenic bioinspired phospholipid polymer, poly(2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine-co-methacryloyloxyethyl butylurethane) (PMBU) were blended at PMBU wt. fractions of 0-15% and electrospun to create fibrous scaffolds. The composite scaffolds were flexible with breaking strains exceeding 300%, tensile strengths of 7-10 MPa and compliances of 2.9-4.4 * 10-4 mmHg-1. In vitro platelet deposition on the scaffold surfaces significantly decreased with increasing PMBU content. Rat smooth muscle cell proliferation was also inhibited on PEUU/PMBU blended scaffolds with greater inhibition at higher PMBU content. Fibrous vascular conduits (1.3 mm inner diam.) implanted in the rat abdominal aorta for 8 wk showed greater patency for grafts with 15% PMBU blending vs. PEUU without PMBU (67% vs. 40%). A thin neo-intimal layer with endothelial coverage and good anastomotic tissue integration was seen for the PEUU/PMBU vascular grafts. These results are encouraging for further evaluation of this technique in larger diam. applications for longer implant periods. [on SciFinder (R)] 
File:  (1534K)