Composite vascular grafts with high cell infiltration by co-electrospinning

There is an increasing demand for functional small-diameter vascular grafts (diameter < 6 mm) to be used in clinical arterial replacement. An ideal vascular graft should have appropriate biomechanical properties and be biocompatible. Electrospinning has become a popular polymer processing technique for vascular tissue engineering, but the grafts fabricated by electrospinning often have relatively small pores and low porosity, which limit cell infiltration into scaffolds and hinder the regeneration and remodeling of grafts. In the present study, we aimed to develop an efficient method to prepare electrospun composite vascular grafts comprising natural and synthetic materials. We fabricated grafts made of polycaprolactone, gelatin, and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) by co-electrospinning, and the scaffolds were further functionalized by immobilizing heparin on them. The PVA fibers degraded rapidly in vivo and generated electrospun scaffolds with high porosity, which significantly enhanced cell proliferation and infiltration. The mechanical properties of the grafts are suitable for use in artery replacement. Heparin functionalization of the grafts yielded a good antithrombogenic effect, which was demonstrated in platelet adhesion tests. Moreover, in vitro and in vivo results demonstrated that the heparin release from the grafts enhanced the growth of endothelial cells, which is important for the endothelium of implanted grafts. The results of this study indicate that our method is effective and controllable for the fabrication of vascular grafts that meet the clinical requirements for blood vessel transplantation.