Long term performance of polycaprolactone vascular grafts in a rat abdominal aorta replacement model

Manufacturing of Biodegradable Scaffolds to Engineer Artificial Blood Vessel

“…PCL is semicrystalline, aliphatic polyester synthesized by the ring-opening polymerization of ε-caprolactone (25,26,27). It shows good mechanical properties, specifically high elongation and strength, and good biocompatibility (27,28). Furthermore, PCL degrades Young's modulus defines the relationship between stress (force per unit area) and strain (proportional deformation) in a material, it predicts how much a material sample extends under tension or shortens under compression.…”

“…slowly in vivo by enzymatic action and by hydrolysis to caproic acid and its oligomers (25,27). It takes more than one year to completely degrade in vivo (27,28). PCL is a FDA approved polymer (25).…”

“…PCL based small diameter vascular constructs have been reported to have good suture retention value and compliance to withstand physiological conditions of blood vessels (32). Electrospun PCL with differential porosity in two layers (inner low porosity than outer), when implanted in a rat showed complete endothelization and perfect patency with no thrombosis (33,34). In another study, an electrospun PCL tubular scaffold implanted into rat proximal native artery showed excellent structural integrity throughout the study, with no aneurysmal dilation, and perfect patency with no thrombosis and limited intimal hyperplasia (34).…”

Evaluation of Mechanical Properties and Medical Applications of Polycaprolactone Small Diameter Artificial Blood Vessels

“…In this field, PCL polymer has been regarded for desirable mechanical properties and optimized biocompatibility that can easily convert to micro and nanofibers by electrospinning and form scaffold with approved shape. 27 Since tissue engineering suggests a unique method to overcome medical problems such as replacing damaged organ or tissue, compatibility of grafted vessels in the human and/ or animal body is the main goal in accomplished studies. Therefore, to achieve the mentioned goal, many studies have been conducted in different branches and cases such as mechanical and biological properties of polymeric scaffolds.…”

“…Effect of Different Surface Treatment Methods on Cell Attachment ously mentioned, plasma surface modification method is a functional method to increase the hydrophilic property of PCL. To improve their previous studies in the field of vascular scaffolds of PCL, 27,34 de Valence et al used plasma method to modify the surface of scaffold and implanted the scaffolds with the length of 1 cm and a diameter of 2 mm in a mice body for 3 weeks. However, the results showed fixed diameter after 3 weeks, and mechanical properties of fibers after applying plasma method, the scaffold hydrophilic property, and muscle cells absorption were increased acceptably.…”