The
lack of small-diameter vascular grafts (inner diameter <5
mm) to substitute autologous grafts in arterial bypass surgeries has
a massive impact on the prognosis and progression of cardiovascular
diseases, the leading cause of death globally. Decellularized arteries
from different sources have been proposed as an alternative, but their
poor mechanical performance and high collagen exposure, which promotes
platelet and bacteria adhesion, limit their successful application.
In this study, these limitations were surpassed for decellularized
umbilical cord arteries through the coating of their lumen with graphene
oxide (GO). Placental and umbilical cord arteries were decellularized
and perfused with a suspension of GO (C/O ratio 2:1) with ∼1.5
μm lateral size. A homogeneous GO coating that completely covered
the collagen fibers was obtained for both arteries, with improvement
of mechanical properties being achieved for umbilical cord decellularized
arteries. GO coating increased the maximum force in 27%, the burst
pressure in 29%, the strain in 25%, and the compliance in 10%, compared
to umbilical cord decellularized arteries. The achieved theoretical
burst pressure (1960 mmHg) and compliance (13.9%/100 mmHg) are similar
to the human saphenous vein and mammary artery, respectively, which
are used nowadays as the gold standard in coronary and peripheral
artery bypass surgeries. Furthermore, and very importantly, coatings
with GO did not compromise the endothelial cell adhesion but decreased
platelet and bacteria adhesion to decellularized arteries, which will
impact on the prevention of thrombosis and infection, until full re-endothetialization
is achieved. Overall, our results reveal that GO coating has an effective
role in the improvement of decellularized umbilical cord artery performance,
which is a huge step toward their application as a small-diameter
vascular graft.