Cardiovascular diseases remain the largest cause of death worldwide, and half of these deaths are the result of failure of the vascular system. Tissue engineering promises to provide new, and potentially more effective therapeutic strategies to replace damaged or degenerated vessels with functional vessels. However, these engineered vessels have substantial performance criteria, including vessel-like tubular shape, structure and mechanical property slate. Further, whether implanted without or with prior in vitro culture, such tubular scaffolds must provide a suitable environment for cell adhesion and growth and be of sufficient porosity to permit cell colonisation. This study investigates the fabrication of slowly degradable, composite tubular polymer scaffolds made from polycaprolactone (PCL) and acrylated l-lactide-co-trimethylene carbonate (aPLA-co-TMC). The addition of acrylate groups permits the 'in-process' formation of crosslinks between PLA-co-TMC chains during electrospinning of the composite system, exemplifying a novel process to produce multicomponent, elastomeric electrospun polymer scaffolds. Although PCL and aPLA-co-TMC were miscible in a co-solvent, a criteria for electrospinning, due to thermodynamic incompatibility of the two polymers as melts, solvent evaporation during electrospinning drove phase separation of these two systems, producing 'core-shell' fibres, with the core being composed of PCL, and the shell of crosslinked elastomeric aPLA-co-TMC. The resulting elastic fibrous scaffolds displayed burst pressures and suture retention strengths comparable with human arteries. Cytocompatibility testing with human mesenchymal stem cells confirmed adhesion to, and proliferation on the three-dimensional fibrous network, as well as alignment with highly-organised fibres. This new processing methodology and resulting mechanically-robust composite scaffolds hold significant promise for tubular tissue engineering applications.
Development of an in-process UV-crosslinked, electrospun PCL/aPLA-co-TMC composite polymer for tubular tissue engineering applications
STEFANI, ILARIA;
2016-01-01
Abstract
Cardiovascular diseases remain the largest cause of death worldwide, and half of these deaths are the result of failure of the vascular system. Tissue engineering promises to provide new, and potentially more effective therapeutic strategies to replace damaged or degenerated vessels with functional vessels. However, these engineered vessels have substantial performance criteria, including vessel-like tubular shape, structure and mechanical property slate. Further, whether implanted without or with prior in vitro culture, such tubular scaffolds must provide a suitable environment for cell adhesion and growth and be of sufficient porosity to permit cell colonisation. This study investigates the fabrication of slowly degradable, composite tubular polymer scaffolds made from polycaprolactone (PCL) and acrylated l-lactide-co-trimethylene carbonate (aPLA-co-TMC). The addition of acrylate groups permits the 'in-process' formation of crosslinks between PLA-co-TMC chains during electrospinning of the composite system, exemplifying a novel process to produce multicomponent, elastomeric electrospun polymer scaffolds. Although PCL and aPLA-co-TMC were miscible in a co-solvent, a criteria for electrospinning, due to thermodynamic incompatibility of the two polymers as melts, solvent evaporation during electrospinning drove phase separation of these two systems, producing 'core-shell' fibres, with the core being composed of PCL, and the shell of crosslinked elastomeric aPLA-co-TMC. The resulting elastic fibrous scaffolds displayed burst pressures and suture retention strengths comparable with human arteries. Cytocompatibility testing with human mesenchymal stem cells confirmed adhesion to, and proliferation on the three-dimensional fibrous network, as well as alignment with highly-organised fibres. This new processing methodology and resulting mechanically-robust composite scaffolds hold significant promise for tubular tissue engineering applications.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
