Issue 5, 2023

Tissue-engineered vascular graft based on a bioresorbable tubular knit scaffold with flexibility, durability, and suturability for implantation

Abstract

The tissue-engineered vascular graft (TEVG) is a technology used to recreate a blood vessel by using vascular cells (endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells) and their scaffolds, and is a promising approach as a clinically feasible alternative for small-diameter blood vessel replacement. Since mechanical damage occurs during/after implantation, it needs flexibility and durability to withstand the mechanical damage to be applied. To achieve this, we applied a bioresorbable polyglycolic acid (PGA) fiber-knitted tubular scaffold for vascular endothelial and smooth muscle cell layers. Similar to the native rat aorta, the knitted tubular scaffold (130 μm-thick PGA fiber) exhibited mechanical performance at 150 mN for up to 40% strain for axial stress and at 90 mN for up to 5% strain for circumferential stress. After co-culturing, a vascular barrier comprised of an inner layer of endothelial cells and an outer layer of smooth muscle cells between tubular knits was observed. Up to 93.6% of the co-cultured cells were retained even after bending 50 times, and the suturability to flow liquid without any leakage in various shapes, such as an L-shape or a Y-shape, was acceptable. Taken together, these results support that the PGA tubular knit plays multifunctional roles, such as a porous three-dimensional matrix to attach and grow the vascular cells, and as a flexible and durable scaffold for the suture. Therefore, we suggest that the bioresorbable PGA tubular knit scaffold is a promising scaffold for TEVGs.

Graphical abstract: Tissue-engineered vascular graft based on a bioresorbable tubular knit scaffold with flexibility, durability, and suturability for implantation

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
04 Sep 2022
Accepted
25 Nov 2022
First published
06 Dec 2022

J. Mater. Chem. B, 2023,11, 1108-1114

Tissue-engineered vascular graft based on a bioresorbable tubular knit scaffold with flexibility, durability, and suturability for implantation

D. Y. Lee, Y. Jang, E. Kim, T. Li and S. J. Kim, J. Mater. Chem. B, 2023, 11, 1108 DOI: 10.1039/D2TB01891H

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements