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Development of L-arginine-based poly(ester urethane)urea for enhanced vascular adaptability

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Abstract

Mismatched biomechanical properties between artificial vascular grafts and native blood vessels can result in intimal hyperplasia, especially for the implantation of small-diameter blood vessels. Ideal biomaterials for vascular repair still remain challenged. Biodegradable poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) has been applied for the preparation of electrospun vascular grafts, but more efforts are needed to improve its compliance with tissue growth. Herein, L-arginine-based poly(ester urethane)urea (PEUU) with both elasticity and biodegradability was synthesized so as to enhance the biomechanical properties of vascular grafts by blending electrospinning with PCL in a given mass ratio. It was exhibited that the prepared electrospun PCL/PEUU fibrous membranes were suitable for cell proliferation with normal cell morphology. More importantly, the electrospun membrane with 1/1 mass ratio of PCL/PEUU (PEUU50) showed specific flexibility, exhibiting more suitable mechanical properties matching to the native blood vessels. Specifically, the PEUU50 electrospun membrane demonstrated significantly lower Young’s modulus (9.3±0.8 MPa) and tensile strength (6.0±0.5 MPa), and extreme higher elongation (389%±24%) in wet state than those (16.3±3.0 MPa, 11.4±7.1 MPa and 196%±57%, respectively) of the pristine PCL membrane. Overall, this study demonstrated the great potential of amino acid-based PEUUs for the application in small-diameter vascular grafts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Composite and Functional Materials, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300350, China

    Shan Bai, XiangYu Zhang, LeiLei Zang, LiXia Ren & XiaoYan Yuan

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  1. Shan Bai
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Correspondence to XiaoYan Yuan.

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This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52073204).

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The supporting information is available online at tech.scichina.com and link.springer.com. The supporting materials are published as submitted, without typesetting or editing. The responsibility for scientific accuracy and content remains entirely with the authors.

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Bai, S., Zhang, X., Zang, L. et al. Development of L-arginine-based poly(ester urethane)urea for enhanced vascular adaptability. Sci. China Technol. Sci. 65, 2751–2762 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-022-2038-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-022-2038-9

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