Issue 10, 2021

Biocasting of an elastin-like recombinamer and collagen bi-layered model of the tunica adventitia and external elastic lamina of the vascular wall

Abstract

The development of techniques for fabricating vascular wall models will foster the development of preventive and therapeutic therapies for treating cardiovascular diseases. However, the physical and biological complexity of vascular tissue represents a major challenge, especially for the design and the production of off-the-shelf biomimetic vascular replicas. Herein, we report the development of a biocasting technique that can be used to replicate the tunica adventitia and the external elastic lamina of the vascular wall. Type I collagen embedded with neonatal human dermal fibroblast (HDFn) and an elastic click cross-linkable, cell-adhesive and protease-sensitive elastin-like recombinamer (ELR) hydrogel were investigated as readily accessible and tunable layers to the envisaged model. Mechanical characterization confirmed that the viscous and elastic attributes predominated in the collagen and ELR layers, respectively. In vitro maturation confirmed that the collagen and ELR provided a favorable environment for the HDFn viability, while histology revealed the wavy and homogenous morphology of the ELR and collagen layer respectively, the cell polarization towards the cell-attachment sites encoded on the ELR, and the enhanced expression of glycosaminoglycan-rich extracellular matrix and differentiation of the embedded HDFn into myofibroblasts. As a complementary assay, 30% by weight of the collagen layer was substituted with the ELR. This model proved the possibility to tune the composition and confirm the versatile character of the technology developed, while revealing no significant differences with respect to the original construct. On-demand modification of the model dimensions, number and composition of the layers, as well as the type and density of the seeded cells, can be further envisioned, thus suggesting that this bi-layered model may be a promising platform for the fabrication of biomimetic vascular wall models.

Graphical abstract: Biocasting of an elastin-like recombinamer and collagen bi-layered model of the tunica adventitia and external elastic lamina of the vascular wall

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
27 Dec 2020
Accepted
17 Apr 2021
First published
20 Apr 2021

Biomater. Sci., 2021,9, 3860-3874

Biocasting of an elastin-like recombinamer and collagen bi-layered model of the tunica adventitia and external elastic lamina of the vascular wall

M. González-Pérez, D. B. Camasão, D. Mantovani, M. Alonso and J. C. Rodríguez-Cabello, Biomater. Sci., 2021, 9, 3860 DOI: 10.1039/D0BM02197K

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