A strategy for rapid and facile fabrication of controlled, layered blood vessel-like structures

Abstract

We develop a rapid and facile method to fabricate tubular scaffolds by a single-step rolling operation. With the aid of fibrin medical glue and a smooth expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) mandrel, we can wrap a piece of flat thin film into a three-dimensional (3D), multi-layered tubular structure with well-controlled diameter, wall thickness, and mechanical strength within 10 min. By patterning different cells in a pre-designed area on the film, after rolling, we can obtain blood vessel-mimicking tissues with well-arranged, multilayered 3D architectures within 70 min. Our strategy provides an excellent platform to rapidly fabricate tubular scaffolds essentially with no equipment and straightforward manipulations.