An Investigation of the Constructional Design Components Affecting the Mechanical Response and Cellular Activity of Electrospun Vascular Grafts

Abstract

Cardiovascular disease is anticipated to remain the leading cause of death globally. Due to the current problems connected with using autologous arteries for bypass surgery, researchers are developing tissue-engineered vascular grafts (TEVGs). The major goal of vascular tissue engineering is to construct prostheses that closely resemble native blood vessels in terms of morphological, mechanical, and biological features so that these scaffolds can satisfy the functional requirements of the native tissue. In this setting, morphology and cellular investigation are usually prioritized, while mechanical qualities are generally addressed superficially. However, producing grafts with good mechanical properties similar to native vessels is crucial for enhancing the clinical performance of vascular grafts, exposing physiological forces, and preventing graft failure caused by intimal hyperplasia, thrombosis, aneurysm, blood leakage, and occlusion. The scaffold’s design and composition play a significant role in determining its mechanical characteristics, including suturability, compliance, tensile strength, burst pressure, and blood permeability. Electrospun prostheses offer various models that can be customized to resemble the extracellular matrix. This review aims to provide a comprehensive and comparative review of recent studies on the mechanical properties of fibrous vascular grafts, emphasizing the influence of structural parameters on mechanical behavior. Additionally, this review provides an overview of permeability and cell growth in electrospun membranes for vascular grafts. This work intends to shed light on the design parameters required to maintain the mechanical stability of vascular grafts placed in the body to produce a temporary backbone and to be biodegraded when necessary, allowing an autologous vessel to take its place.

Optimization of Electrospun Bilayer Vascular Grafts through Assessment of the Mechanical Properties of Monolayers

“…On the other hand, using polymers as a blended form affects the compliance values negatively, and with the increase in PLA ratio, the compliance values gradually decrease. The flexibility of the sample is very important in terms of the compliance property, and it is known that the flexibility of samples contributes positively to the compliance values. , For this reason, the PLCL100_R sample showed the highest compliance values. Also, as PCL is a flexible and pliable biopolymer with high strain values, higher compliance results are expected from PCL among the other samples made of blended PCL and PLA.…”

“…Despite the fact that fiber orientation lowers compliance, it is also known that it contributes to the mechanical characteristics of the scaffolds, such as tensile strength and burst pressure . Thus, both structures can be utilized for different approaches in multilayer vascular graft strategies.…”

“…80 Despite the fact that fiber orientation lowers compliance, it is also known that it contributes to the mechanical characteristics of the scaffolds, such as tensile strength and burst pressure. 77 Thus, both structures can be utilized for different approaches in multilayer vascular graft strategies. From this point of view, the production of bilayer vascular grafts is carried out using surfaces with randomly distributed fibers in the inner layer and radially oriented fibers in the outer layer.…”

Preparation and performance of random- and oriented-fiber membranes with core–shell structures via coaxial electrospinning

“…Overall, all the fibers were connected without any beads or gross defects. The different arrangements of the fibers likely provided different physical, mechanical, and biocompatibility properties ( Dehghan and Khajeh Mehrizi, 2022 ; Ozdemir et al, 2022 ; Yuan et al, 2022 ). The subsequent experiments were conducted with random- and oriented-fiber membranes, and it was expected that the oriented-fiber membranes would be more helpful to the growth and proliferation of cells and promote the regeneration of new tissue.…”

The Effect of Polymer Type and Fiber Orientation on the Compliance Properties of Electrospun Vascular Grafts

“…Additionally, oriented samples also had higher compliance values than the coronary artery. Despite the fiber orientation lowers the compliance, it also known that it contributes to mechanical characteristics of the scaffolds such as tensile strength and burst pressure [27]. Thus, both of the structures can be utilized for different approaches in multilayer vascular graft strategies.…”