Novel electrospun polyurethane/gelatin composite meshes for vascular grafts

摘要: Novel polymeric micro-nanostructure meshes as blood vessels substitute have been developed and investigated a potential solution to the lack of functional synthetic small diameter vascular prosthesis. A commercial elastomeric polyurethane (Tecoflex EG-80A) natural biopolymer (gelatin) were successfully co-electrospun from different spinnerets on rotating mandrel obtain composite benefiting mechanical characteristics cytocompatibility. Morphological analysis showed uniform integration micrometric (Tecoflex) nanometric fibers. Exposure vapors aqueous glutaraldehyde was carried out, stabilize gelatin fibers in an environment. Uniaxial tensile testing wet conditions demonstrated that analyzed Tecoflex-Gelatin specimens possessed higher extensibility lower elastic modulus than conventional grafts, providing closer matching native vessels. Biological evaluation highlighted that, compared with spun Tecoflex alone, electrospun constructs enhanced endothelial cells adhesion proliferation, both terms cell number morphology. Results suggest could be promising alternatives deserving further studies their behaviour smooth muscle compatibility.