Vascular Tissue Engineering: Effects of Integrating Collagen into a PCL Based Nanofiber Material

Biomed Res Int. 2017:2017:9616939. doi: 10.1155/2017/9616939. Epub 2017 Aug 28.

Abstract

The engineering of vascular grafts is a growing field in regenerative medicine. Although numerous attempts have been made, the current vascular grafts made of polyurethane (PU), Dacron®, or Teflon® still display unsatisfying results. Electrospinning of biopolymers and native proteins has been in the focus of research to imitate the extracellular matrix (ECM) of vessels to produce a small caliber, off-the-shelf tissue engineered vascular graft (TEVG) as a substitute for poorly performing PU, Dacron, or Teflon prostheses. Blended poly-ε-caprolactone (PCL)/collagen grafts have shown promising results regarding biomechanical and cell supporting features. In order to find a suitable PCL/collagen blend, we fabricated plane electrospun PCL scaffolds using various collagen type I concentrations ranging from 5% to 75%. We analyzed biocompatibility and morphological aspects in vitro. Our results show beneficial features of collagen I integration regarding cell viability and functionality, but also adverse effects like the loss of a confluent monolayer at high concentrations of collagen. Furthermore, electrospun PCL scaffolds containing 25% collagen I seem to be ideal for engineering vascular grafts.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Bioprosthesis*
  • Blood Vessel Prosthesis*
  • Cell Line
  • Collagen Type I / chemistry*
  • Materials Testing*
  • Mice
  • Nanofibers / chemistry*
  • Polyesters / chemistry*
  • Tissue Engineering / methods*

Substances

  • Collagen Type I
  • Polyesters
  • polycaprolactone