Wavy small-diameter vascular graft made of eggshell membrane and thermoplastic polyurethane

• Published in: Materials Science & Engineering C 2020-02, Vol.107, p.110311-110311, Article 110311
• Main Authors: Yan, Shujie, Napiwocki, Brett, Xu, Yiyang, Zhang, Jue, Zhang, Xiang, Wang, Xiaofeng, Crone, Wendy C., Li, Qian, Turng, Lih-Sheng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adhesion tests; Animals; Anticoagulants; Antithrombins; Antithrombogenicity; Biocompatibility; Biocompatible Materials - chemistry; Biological activity; Biomimetics; Blood Vessel Prosthesis; Blood vessels; Chickens; Diameters; Dopamine; Egg Shell - chemistry; Egg shells; Eggshell membrane; Endothelial cells; Endothelialization; Equipment Design; Extracellular matrix; Extracellular Matrix - chemistry; Fibers; Fibrous structure; Grafting; Heparin; Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells; Humans; Materials science; Mechanical properties; Membranes; Particle Size; Platelet Adhesiveness - drug effects; Polyurethane; Polyurethane resins; Polyurethanes - chemistry; Small-diameter vascular graft; Structural damage; Tension tests; Thermoplastic polyurethane; Ultimate tensile strength; Umbilical vein; Urethane thermoplastic elastomers
• ISSN: 0928-4931; 1873-0191
• DOI: 10.1016/j.msec.2019.110311

In this study, a small-diameter, double-layered eggshell membrane/thermoplastic polyurethane (ESM/TPU) vascular graft with a wavy structure was developed. The avian eggshell membrane, a fibrous structure similar to the extracellular matrix (ECM), has the potential to yield rapid endothelialization in vitro. The dopamine and heparin modification of the ESM surface not only promoted human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) proliferation via cytocompatibility assessment, but also improved its anticoagulation properties as verified in platelet adhesion tests. The biomimetic mechanical properties of the vascular graft were provided by the elastic TPU fibers via electrospinning using a wavy cross-section rotating collector. The advantage of combining these two materials is to make use of the bioactivity of ESM as the internal membrane and the tunable mechanical properties of TPU as the external layer. The circumferentially wavy structure of the vascular graft produced a toe region in the non-linear section of the stress–strain curve similar to that of natural blood vessels. The ESM/TPU graft's circumferential ultimate strength was 2.57 MPa, its strain was 339% mm/mm, and its toe region was found to be around 20% mm/mm. Cyclical tension tests showed that the vascular graft could maintain good mechanical properties and showed no structural damage under repeated extension tests. •The avian eggshell membrane has the potential to yield rapid endothelialization in vitro.•The heparin modification of the eggshell membrane improves its anticoagulation properties.•The biomimetic mechanical properties of the double-layered vascular graft are provided by a wavy structure.•The circumferentially wavy structure produced a toe region in the stress–strain behavior.