International Journal of Nanomedicine (Nov 2018)

Macroporous nanofibrous vascular scaffold with improved biodegradability and smooth muscle cells infiltration prepared by dual phase separation technique

  • Wang W,
  • Nie W,
  • Liu D,
  • Du H,
  • Zhou X,
  • Chen L,
  • Wang H,
  • Mo X,
  • Li L,
  • He C

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 13
pp. 7003 – 7018

Abstract

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Weizhong Wang,1 Wei Nie,1 Dinghua Liu,1 Haibo Du,1 Xiaojun Zhou,1 Liang Chen,1 Hongsheng Wang,1 Xiumei Mo,1 Lei Li,2 Chuanglong He1 1Key Laboratory of Science & Technology of Eco-Textiles, Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China; 2Department of Gastroenterology, Ninth People’s Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200011, China Introduction: The fast degradation of vascular graft and the infiltration of smooth muscle cells (SMCs) into the vascular graft are considered to be critical for the regeneration of functional neo-vessels. In our previous study, a novel dual phase separation technique was developed to one-pot prepare macroporous nanofibrous poly(l-lactic acid) (PLLA)/poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) vascular scaffold by phase separating the immiscible polymer blend. However, the slow degradation of PLLA/PCL limited cell infiltration. Herein, we hypothesized that poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) would be miscible with PLLA but immiscible with PCL. Then, PLGA can be introduced into the PLLA/PCL blend to fabricate macroporous nanofibrous scaffold with improved biodegradability by using dual phase separation technique. Materials and methods: The miscibility of PLGA with PLLA and PCL was evaluated. Then, the PLLA/PLGA/PCL scaffold was prepared by dual phase separation technique. The prepared scaffolds were characterized in terms of the morphology, in vitro degradation, mechanical properties, and cells’ infiltration and viability for human vascular SMCs (HVSMCs). Finally, platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB) was immobilized on the scaffold and its effect on the bioactivity of HVSMCs was studied. Results: PLGA is miscible with PLLA but immiscible with PCL as hypothesized. The addition of PLGA enlarged the pore size and improved the biodegradability of composite scaffold. Notably, PLLA/PLGA/PCL scaffold with the blend ratio of 30:40:30 possessed improved pore interconnectivity for cells’ infiltration and enough mechanical properties. Moreover, HVSMCs could grow and infiltrate into this scaffold, and surface modification with PDGF-BB on the nanofibrous scaffold enhanced HVSMCs migration and proliferation. Conclusion: This study provides a strategy to expand dual phase separation technique into utilizing ternary even multinary polymer blend to fabricate macroporous nanofibrous scaffold with improved physicochemical properties. The prepared PLLA/PLGA/PCL scaffold would be promising for the regeneration of functional tunica media in vascular tissue engineering. Keywords: immiscible polymer blend, porous, nanofibrous, vascular scaffold, PDGF-BB

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