Development of a polymeric scaffold for vascular tissue engineering

An important area of tissue engineering is the development of small-dimeter vascular grafts. In our study we assessed whether an electrospun polymer scaffold is beneficial for developing a tissue-engineered graft. The polymeric grafts were made from a blend of polyhydroxybutyrate/valerate and polycaprolactone (PHBV/PCL) and added type I collagen. Additionally, the grafts were treated with fibronectin. Cells were isolated from the peripheral blood of patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and then seeded on the luminal graft surface. Then, the grafts with cells were cultured in a pulsatile flow bioreactor. We confirmed that separate feeding of PHBV/PCL and type I collagen during electrospinning allows developing a scaffold for a vascular graft suitable for maintaining the viability of the endothelial layer on the luminal surface.An important area of tissue engineering is the development of small-dimeter vascular grafts. In our study we assessed whether an electrospun polymer scaffold is beneficial for developing a tissue-engineered graft. The polymeric grafts were made from a blend of polyhydroxybutyrate/valerate and polycaprolactone (PHBV/PCL) and added type I collagen. Additionally, the grafts were treated with fibronectin. Cells were isolated from the peripheral blood of patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and then seeded on the luminal graft surface. Then, the grafts with cells were cultured in a pulsatile flow bioreactor. We confirmed that separate feeding of PHBV/PCL and type I collagen during electrospinning allows developing a scaffold for a vascular graft suitable for maintaining the viability of the endothelial layer on the luminal surface.