Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogels have been considered potentially suitable for applications as engineered blood vessels because of their structure and mechanical properties. However, PVA's hydrophilicity hinders its capacity to act as a substrate for cell attachment. As a remedy, PVA was blended with chitosan, gelatin, or starch, and hydrogels were formed by subjecting the solutions to freeze-thaw cycles followed by coagulation bath immersion. The structure-property relationships for these hydrogels were examined by measurement of their swelling, rehydration, degradation, and mechanical properties. For the case of pure PVA hydrogels, the equilibrium swelling ratio was used to predict the effect of freeze thaw cycles and coagulation bath on average molecular weights between crosslinks and on mesh size. For all hydrogels, trends for the reswelling ratio, which is indicative of the crosslinked polymer fraction, were consistent with relative tensile properties. The coagulation bath treatment increased the degradation resistance of the hydrogels significantly. The suitability of each hydrogel for cell attachment and proliferation was examined by protein adsorption and bovine vascular endothelial cell culture experiments. Protein adsorption and cell proliferation was highest on the PVA/gelatin hydrogels. This study demonstrates that the potential of PVA hydrogels for artificial blood vessel applications can be improved by the addition of natural polymers, and that freeze-thawing and coagulation bath treatment can be utilized for fine adjustment of the physical characteristics.

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