scholarly journals Synthesis of Poly(l-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone) Copolymer: Structure, Toughness, and Elasticity

Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1270
Author(s):  
Mengyuan Zhang ◽  
Zhonghua Chang ◽  
Xiaofeng Wang ◽  
Qian Li

Biodegradable and bioabsorbable polymers have drawn considerable attention because of their mechanical properties that mimic human soft tissue. Poly(l-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone) (PLCL), the copolymer of L-lactic (LA) and ε-caprolactone (CL), has been applied in many tissue engineering and regenerative medicine fields. However, both the synthesis of PLCL and the structure-activity relationship of the copolymer need to be further investigated to allow tuning of different mechanical properties. The synthesis conditions of PLCL were optimized to increase the yield and improve the copolymer properties. The synthetic process was evaluated by while varying the molar ratio of the monomers and polymerization time. The mechanical properties of the copolymer were investigated from the macroscopic and microscopic perspectives. Changes in the polymerization time and feed ratio resulted in the difference in the LA and CL content, which, in turn, caused the PLCL to exhibit different properties. The PLCL obtained with a feed ratio of 1:1 (LA:CL) and a polymerization time of 30 h has the best toughness and elasticity. The developed PLCL may have applications in dynamic mechanical environment, such as vascular tissue engineering.

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-34
Author(s):  
Vera G. Matveeva ◽  
Mariam Yu. Khanova ◽  
Tatyana V. Glushkova ◽  
Larisa V. Antonova

Aim. To evaluate the potential utility of fibrin matrices containing 10, 20, and 25 mg/ml of fibrinogen (fibrin-10, fibrin-20, and fibrin-30, respectively) in vascular tissue engineering (VTE). Materials and Methods. Fibrinogen was isolated using the method of ethanol cryoprecipitation and polymerized using a solution of thrombin and CaCl2. The fibrin structure was studied in a scanning electron microscope, and the physical and mechanical properties of the material were tested on a Zwick/Roell test machine. The metabolic activity of endothelial cells (EC) on the fibrin surface was evaluated by the MTT assay, and the viability of fibroblasts in the thickness of fibrin and possibility for migration by in fluorescent and light microscopy. Percent of fibrin shrinkage was determined from the difference in the sample volumes before and after removal of moisture. Results. The fiber diameter did not differ among all fibrin samples, but the pore diameter in fibrin-30 was smaller than those in fibrin-10 and fibrin-20. A possibility for migration of fibroblasts into the depth of the fibrin matrix and preservation of 97-100% viability of cells at a depth 5 mm was confirmed. The metabolic activity of EC on the surface of fibrin-20 and fibrin-30 exceeded that on collagen, fibronectin, and fibrin-10. All fibrin samples shrank in volume to 95.5-99.5%, and the highest shrinkage was seen in fibrin-10. The physical and mechanical properties of fibrin were inferior to those of human A. mammaria by a factor of 10. Conclusion. Fibrin with fibrinogen concentrations of 20 and 30 mg/ml maintains a high metabolic and proliferative activity of EC on the surface and also a high viability of fibroblasts in the matrix. Its availability, ease of preparation, and a number of other favorable properties make fibrin a promising material for VTE. However, the problem of insufficient strength requires further investigations.


2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarína Kacvinská ◽  
Martina Trávničková ◽  
Lucy Vojtová ◽  
Petr Poláček ◽  
Jana Dorazilová ◽  
...  

Abstract This study deals with cellulose derivatives in relation to the collagen fibrils in composite collagen-cellulose scaffolds for soft tissue engineering. Two types of cellulose, i.e., oxidized cellulose (OC) and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), were blended with collagen (Col) to enhance its elasticity, stability and sorptive biological properties, e.g. hemostatic and antibacterial features. The addition of OC supported the resistivity of the Col fibrils in a dry environment, while in a moist environment OC caused a radical drop. The addition of CMC reduced the mechanical strength of the Col fibrils in both environments. The elongation of the Col fibrils was increased by both types of cellulose derivatives in both environments, which is closely related to tissue like behaviour. In these various mechanical environments, the ability of human adipose-derived stem cells (hADSCs) to adhere and proliferate was significantly greater in the Col and Col/OC scaffolds than in the Col/CMC scaffold. This is explained by deficient mechanical support and loss of stiffness due to the high swelling capacity of CMC. Although Col/OC and Col/CMC acted differently in terms of mechanical properties, both materials were observed to be cytocompatible, with varying degrees of further support for cell adhesion and proliferation. While Col/OC can serve as a scaffolding material for vascular tissue engineering and for skin tissue engineering, Col/CMC seems to be more suitable for moist wound healing, e.g. as a mucoadhesive gel for exudate removal, since there was almost no cell adhesion.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro F. Pellegata ◽  
M. Adelaide Asnaghi ◽  
Ilaria Stefani ◽  
Anna Maestroni ◽  
Silvia Maestroni ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Junior Lepedda ◽  
Gabriele Nieddu ◽  
Marilena Formato ◽  
Matthew Brandon Baker ◽  
Julia Fernández-Pérez ◽  
...  

Cardiovascular diseases represent the number one cause of death globally, with atherosclerosis a major contributor. Despite the clinical need for functional arterial substitutes, success has been limited to arterial replacements of large-caliber vessels (diameter > 6 mm), leaving the bulk of demand unmet. In this respect, one of the most challenging goals in tissue engineering is to design a “bioactive” resorbable scaffold, analogous to the natural extracellular matrix (ECM), able to guide the process of vascular tissue regeneration. Besides adequate mechanical properties to sustain the hemodynamic flow forces, scaffold’s properties should include biocompatibility, controlled biodegradability with non-toxic products, low inflammatory/thrombotic potential, porosity, and a specific combination of molecular signals allowing vascular cells to attach, proliferate and synthesize their own ECM. Different fabrication methods, such as phase separation, self-assembly and electrospinning are currently used to obtain nanofibrous scaffolds with a well-organized architecture and mechanical properties suitable for vascular tissue regeneration. However, several studies have shown that naked scaffolds, although fabricated with biocompatible polymers, represent a poor substrate to be populated by vascular cells. In this respect, surface functionalization with bioactive natural molecules, such as collagen, elastin, fibrinogen, silk fibroin, alginate, chitosan, dextran, glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), and growth factors has proven to be effective. GAGs are complex anionic unbranched heteropolysaccharides that represent major structural and functional ECM components of connective tissues. GAGs are very heterogeneous in terms of type of repeating disaccharide unit, relative molecular mass, charge density, degree and pattern of sulfation, degree of epimerization and physicochemical properties. These molecules participate in a number of vascular events such as the regulation of vascular permeability, lipid metabolism, hemostasis, and thrombosis, but also interact with vascular cells, growth factors, and cytokines to modulate cell adhesion, migration, and proliferation. The primary goal of this review is to perform a critical analysis of the last twenty-years of literature in which GAGs have been used as molecular cues, able to guide the processes leading to correct endothelialization and neo-artery formation, as well as to provide readers with an overall picture of their potential as functional molecules for small-diameter vascular regeneration.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramiro M. Irastorza ◽  
Bernard Drouin ◽  
Eugenia Blangino ◽  
Diego Mantovani

Small diameter tissue-engineered arteries improve their mechanical and functional properties when they are mechanically stimulated. Applying a suitable stress and/or strain with or without a cycle to the scaffolds and cells during the culturing process resides in our ability to generate a suitable mechanical model. Collagen gel is one of the most used scaffolds in vascular tissue engineering, mainly because it is the principal constituent of the extracellular matrix for vascular cells in human. The mechanical modeling of such a material is not a trivial task, mainly for its viscoelastic nature. Computational and experimental methods for developing a suitable model for collagen gels are of primary importance for the field. In this research, we focused on mechanical properties of collagen gels under unconfined compression. First, mechanical viscoelastic models are discussed and framed in the control system theory. Second, models are fitted using system identification. Several models are evaluated and two nonlinear models are proposed: Mooney-Rivlin inspired and Hammerstein models. The results suggest that Mooney-Rivlin and Hammerstein models succeed in describing the mechanical behavior of collagen gels for cyclic tests on scaffolds (with best fitting parameters 58.3% and 75.8%, resp.). When Akaike criterion is used, the best is the Mooney-Rivlin inspired model.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro F. Pellegata ◽  
M. Adelaide Asnaghi ◽  
Ilaria Stefani ◽  
Anna Maestroni ◽  
Silvia Maestroni ◽  
...  

Small caliber vessels substitutes still remain an unmet clinical need; few autologous substitutes are available, while synthetic grafts show insufficient patency in the long term. Decellularization is the complete removal of all cellular and nuclear matters from a tissue while leaving a preserved extracellular matrix representing a promising tool for the generation of acellular scaffolds for tissue engineering, already used for various tissues with positive outcomes. The aim of this work is to investigate the effect of a detergent-enzymatic decellularization protocol on swine arteries in terms of cell removal, extracellular matrix preservation, and mechanical properties. Furthermore, the effect of storage at −80°C on the mechanical properties of the tissue is evaluated. Swine arteries were harvested, frozen, and decellularized; histological analysis revealed complete cell removal and preserved extracellular matrix. Furthermore, the residual DNA content in decellularized tissues was far low compared to native one. Mechanical testings were performed on native, defrozen, and decellularized tissues; no statistically significant differences were reported for Young’s modulus, ultimate stress, compliance, burst pressure, and suture retention strength, while ultimate strain and stress relaxation of decellularized vessels were significantly different from the native ones. Considering the overall results, the process was confirmed to be suitable for the generation of acellular scaffolds for vascular tissue engineering.


Author(s):  
Raffaella Aversa ◽  
Relly Victoria Petrescu ◽  
Florian Ion T. Petrescu ◽  
Davide Apicella ◽  
and Antonio Apicella

Innovative tissue engineering biomimetic hydrogels based on hydrophilic polymers have been investigated for their physical and mechanical properties. 5% to 25% by volume loading PHEMA-nanosilica glassy hybrid samples were equilibrated at 37°C in aqueous physiological isotonic and hypotonic saline solutions (0.15 and 0.05 M NaCl) simulating two limiting possible compositions of physiological extracellular fluids. The glassy and hydrated hybrid materials were characterized both for dynamo-mechanical properties and equilibrium absorptions in the two physiological-like aqueous solutions. Mechanical and the morphological modifications occurring in the samples have been described. The 5% volume nanosilica loading hybrid nanocomposite composition showed mechanical characteristics in the dry and hydrated states that were comparable to those of cortical bone and articular cartilage, respectively, and then chosen for further sorption kinetics characterization. Sorption and swelling kinetics were monitored up to equilibrium. Changes in water activities and osmotic pressures in the water-hybrid systems equilibrated at the two limiting solute molarities of the physiological solutions have been related to the observed anomalous sorption modes using the Flory-Huggins interaction parameter approach. The bulk modulus of the dry and glassy PHEMA-5% nanosilica hybrid at 37°C has been observed to be comparable with the values of the osmotic pressures generated from the sorption of isotonic and hypotonic solutions. The anomalous sorption modes and swelling rates are coherent with the difference between osmotic swelling pressures and hybrid glassy nano-composite bulk modulus: the lower the differences the higher the swelling rate and equilibrium solution uptakes. Bone tissue engineering benefits of use of tuneable biomimetic scaffold biomaterials that can be “designed” to act as biocompatible and biomechanically active hybrid interfaces are discussed.


Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 1699
Author(s):  
Chih-Hsun Lin ◽  
Kai Hsia ◽  
Chih-Kuan Su ◽  
Chien-Chin Chen ◽  
Chang-Ching Yeh ◽  
...  

Decellularized vascular grafts are useful for the construction of biological small-diameter tissue-engineered vascular grafts (≤6 mm). Traditional chemical decellularization requires a long treatment time, which may damage the structure and alter the mechanical properties. Decellularization using sonication is expected to solve this problem. The aim of this study was to develop an effective decellularization method using ultrasound followed by washing. Different power values of sonication at 40 kHz were tested for 2, 4, and 8 h followed by a washing procedure. The efficacy of sonication of decellularized human umbilical artery (sDHUA) was evaluated via DNA content, histological staining, mechanical properties, and biocompatibility. The sDHUAs were further implanted into rats for up to 90 days and magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) was performed for the implanted grafts. The results demonstrated that treatment of human umbilical artery (HUA) by sonication at ultrasonic power of 204 W for 4 h followed by washing for 24 h in 2% SDS buffer could eliminate more than 90% of cells and retain similar mechanical properties of the HUA. Recellularization was assessed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), which indicated that sDHUA provided niches for human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) to reside, indicating in vitro cytocompatibility. Further implantation tests also indicated the fitness of the sonication-treated HUA as a scaffold for small-caliber tissue engineering vascular grafts.


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