Kim Se-Eun, Jeong Sung-In, Shim Kyung-Mi, Jang Kwangsik, Park Jong-Seok, Lim Youn-Mook, Kang Seong-Soo
BK21 FOUR Program, Department of Veterinary Surgery, College of Veterinary Medicine, Chonnam National University, Gwangju 61186, Korea.
Biomaterial R&BD Center, Chonnam National University, Gwangju 61186, Korea.
Polymers (Basel). 2022 Mar 21;14(6):1265. doi: 10.3390/polym14061265.
The effectiveness of small-diameter vascular grafts depends on their antithrombogenic properties and ability to undergo accelerated endothelialization. The extreme hydrophobic nature of poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) hinders vascular tissue integration, limiting its use in medical implants. To enhance the antithrombogenicity of PCL as a biomaterial, we grafted 2-aminoethyl methacrylate (AEMA) hydrochloride onto the PCL surface using gamma irradiation; developed a biodegradable heparin-immobilized PCL nanofibrous scaffold using gamma irradiation and -(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-'-ethyl carbodiimide hydrochloride/-hydroxysuccinimide reaction chemistry; and incorporated vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) into the scaffold to promote vascular endothelial cell proliferation and prevent thrombosis on the vascular grafts. We assessed the physicochemical properties of PCL, heparin-AEMA-PCL (H-PCL), and VEGF-loaded heparin-AEMA-PCL (VH-PCL) vascular grafts using scanning electron microscopy, attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, toluidine blue O staining, and fibrinogen adsorption and surface wettability measurement. In addition, we implanted the vascular grafts into 24-month-old Sprague Dawley rats and evaluated them for 3 months. The H-PCL and VH-PCL vascular grafts improved the recovery of blood vessel function by promoting the proliferation of endothelial cells and preventing thrombosis in clinical and histological evaluation, indicating their potential to serve as functional vascular grafts in vascular tissue engineering.
小口径血管移植物的有效性取决于其抗血栓形成特性以及加速内皮化的能力。聚（ε-己内酯）（PCL）的极端疏水性阻碍了血管组织整合，限制了其在医疗植入物中的应用。为了增强PCL作为生物材料的抗血栓形成性，我们使用γ射线辐照将甲基丙烯酸2-氨基乙酯（AEMA）盐酸盐接枝到PCL表面；利用γ射线辐照以及N-（3-二甲氨基丙基）-N'-乙基碳二亚胺盐酸盐/N-羟基琥珀酰亚胺反应化学方法制备了一种可生物降解的肝素固定化PCL纳米纤维支架；并将血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）掺入支架中，以促进血管内皮细胞增殖并防止血管移植物上形成血栓。我们使用扫描电子显微镜、衰减全反射傅里叶变换红外光谱、甲苯胺蓝O染色、纤维蛋白原吸附和表面润湿性测量来评估PCL、肝素-AEMA-PCL（H-PCL）和负载VEGF的肝素-AEMA-PCL（VH-PCL）血管移植物的物理化学性质。此外，我们将血管移植物植入24个月大的Sprague Dawley大鼠体内，并对其进行了3个月的评估。在临床和组织学评估中，H-PCL和VH-PCL血管移植物通过促进内皮细胞增殖和防止血栓形成改善了血管功能的恢复，表明它们有潜力在血管组织工程中用作功能性血管移植物。
