Ng Feng Lin, Ong Yee Oon, Chen Hui Zhi, Tran Le Quan Ngoc, Cao Ye, Tay Bee Yen, Tan Lay Poh
School of Materials Science & Engineering, Nanyang Technological University N4. 1-01-07, 50 Nanyang Avenue Singapore 639798 Singapore
Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology 73 Nanyang Drive Singapore 637662 Singapore.
RSC Adv. 2019 Apr 30;9(23):13054-13064. doi: 10.1039/c9ra00661c. eCollection 2019 Apr 25.
Vascular graft replacement remains the optimal treatment option for many vascular diseases despite advances in endovascular surgery. In this study, we proposed the use of surface topographical cues to align and maintain the phenotype of vascular smooth muscle cells (vSMCs) which were reported as one of the vital limitations for successful graft replacement. An auxiliary electrospinning setup has been developed to collect circumferentially aligned fibres on a 3D tubular format; this micro-architecture was found to be similar to the tunica media layer of blood vessels. The presence of aligned fibres served as a signaling modality to induce cell alignment and the maintenance of the contractile phenotype. vSMCs cultured on the 3D aligned fibrous substrate were found to exhibit better cell proliferation ability and enhanced cell-shape directionality. The functional expression of the two representative intracellular contractile proteins ( α-SMA and MHC) was found to exhibit definitive markers that are orderly organized as microfilament bundles. Collectively, the result suggests a possibility of adapting the 3D aligned tubular scaffold to enhance and regulate cell function along with the additional tunability of scaffold diameter and thicknesses for tailoring to the needs of individual patients or future studies.
尽管血管内手术取得了进展，但血管移植置换仍是许多血管疾病的最佳治疗选择。在本研究中，我们提出利用表面形貌线索来排列和维持血管平滑肌细胞（vSMC）的表型，这被报道为成功进行移植置换的一个关键限制因素。我们开发了一种辅助静电纺丝装置，以在三维管状结构上收集周向排列的纤维；这种微观结构被发现与血管的中膜层相似。排列的纤维的存在作为一种信号传导方式，可诱导细胞排列并维持收缩表型。发现在三维排列的纤维基质上培养的vSMC表现出更好的细胞增殖能力和增强的细胞形态方向性。发现两种代表性的细胞内收缩蛋白（α-SMA和MHC）的功能表达表现出明确的标志物，它们作为微丝束有序排列。总体而言，结果表明有可能采用三维排列的管状支架来增强和调节细胞功能，以及对支架直径和厚度进行额外的调节，以满足个体患者的需求或未来研究的需要。
