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Mechanical Characterization of Decellularized Blood Vessels: A Valuable Tool to Provide Comprehensive Information About the Scaffold

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6th International Conference on Nanotechnologies and Biomedical Engineering (ICNBME 2023)

Part of the book series: IFMBE Proceedings ((IFMBE,volume 91))

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Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) remain an important global health problem. Surgical revascularization (or bypass surgery) has been established as the most optimal therapeutic approach for patients with severe injury; however, not in all cases a suitable vascular substitute can be identified. The field of vascular tissue engineering and regenerative medicine aim to produce suitable tissue-engineered vascular grafts (TEVGs) for vascular repair, replacement, or reconstructive aims. Decellularization (DC) is a promising approach because it completely removes the antigenic cellular components. The goal of the proposed study was to examine the mechanical integrity of the decellularized porcine carotid arteries (a prototype of small-diameter vascular grafts).

The developed DC procedure included osmotic shock, chemical surfactant treatment, and enzymatic digestion. Agree to other DC protocols reported previously, we were able to demonstrate, on the one hand, complete removal of cells throughout the arterial wall by performing H&E staining and DAPI, on the other hand, good biomechanical properties of decellularized tissue by performing the suture retention strength testing. The average suture retention strength of native porcine vessels was 1.08 ± 0.39 N. The average suture retention strength of decellularized vessels was 1.14 ± 0.38 N (p = 0.0731). In summary, the both control and treated vessels exhibited similar mechanical properties; the used combined method had beneficial effect in this study.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by these grants: “NanoMedTwin – Promoting smart specialization at the Technical University of Moldova by developing the field of Novel Nanomaterials for BioMedical Applications through excellence in research and twinning” (810652) and “Nanoarhitecturi în bază de GaN și matrici tridimensionale din materiale biologice pentru aplicații în microfluidică și inginerie tisulară” (20.80009.5007.20).

We thank Dr. Phil. Andres Hilfiker, Dr. Rer. Nat. Birgit Andrée, and Dr. Phil. Sugat Ratna Tuladhar (MHH Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany) for assistance in conducting the research, doing the measurements, and valuable comments on experimental results.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery No. 1 “Nicolae Anestiadi”, Nicolae Testemitanu State University of Medicine and Pharmacy of the Republic of Moldova, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova

    Tatiana Malcova & Gheorghe Rojnoveanu

  2. Laboratory of Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Surgery, Nicolae Testemitanu State University of Medicine and Pharmacy of the Republic of Moldova, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova

    Tatiana Malcova

  3. Laboratory of Tissue Engineering and Cell Cultures, Nicolae Testemitanu State University of Medicine and Pharmacy of the Republic of Moldova, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova

    Tatiana Malcova & Viorel Nacu

  4. Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Nicolae Testemitanu State University of Medicine and Pharmacy of the Republic of Moldova, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova

    Anatol Ciubotaru

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  1. Tatiana Malcova
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  2. Gheorghe Rojnoveanu
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  3. Anatol Ciubotaru
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  4. Viorel Nacu
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Correspondence to Tatiana Malcova .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microelectronics and Biomedical Engineering, Technical University of Moldova, Chisinau, Moldova

    Victor Sontea

  2. Academy of Sciences of Moldova, Chisinau, Moldova

    Ion Tiginyanu

  3. Department of Microelectronics and Biomedical Engineering, Technical University of Moldova, Chisinau, Moldova

    Serghei Railean

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Malcova, T., Rojnoveanu, G., Ciubotaru, A., Nacu, V. (2024). Mechanical Characterization of Decellularized Blood Vessels: A Valuable Tool to Provide Comprehensive Information About the Scaffold. In: Sontea, V., Tiginyanu, I., Railean, S. (eds) 6th International Conference on Nanotechnologies and Biomedical Engineering. ICNBME 2023. IFMBE Proceedings, vol 91. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-42775-6_42

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-42775-6_42

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