title: A sandwich tubular scaffold derived from chitosan for blood vessel tissue engineering.
abstract: Many materials have been investigated in blood vessel tissue engineering, such as PGA, PLGA, P4HB. However, chitosan is not mentioned in the arena. This study aimed to develop a chitosan-based tubular scaffold and examine its feasibility of being applied in this field. Briefly, a knitted chitosan tube was dipped into chitosan solution (2%, w/v) and dried, then its inner and outer surface was mantled with a layer of chitosan/gelatin (4:1, w/w) complex solution, and then freeze-dehydrated. In vitro characterization showed that the scaffold had a wall of 1.0 mm in thickness with a sandwich structure, and a porosity of 81.2%. The pore diameter was 50-150 microm and could be regulated by varying freezing conditions. The scaffold possessed proper swelling property, burst strength of almost 4000 mmHg, and high suture-retention strength. After degradation for 2 months, the scaffold could maintain enough mechanical strength with an average mass loss of 18.7%. Vascular smooth muscle cells could spread and grow very well on the scaffold. This study provided a novel method to fabricate chitosan and its complex into a tubular scaffold and demonstrated the feasibility of the scaffold employed in the field of blood vessel tissue engineering.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Biomembrane and Membrane Biotechnology, Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Ao
authors.forename: Aijun
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Guangyuan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Lijun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.forename: Yandao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.forename: Nanming
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Xiufang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001808:Blood Vessels / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D048271:Chitosan / Q000737:chemistry*; D020099:Coated Materials, Biocompatible / Q000737:chemistry*; D048091:Guided Tissue Regeneration; D008422:Materials Testing; D009131:Muscle, Smooth, Vascular / Q000166:cytology; D032389:Myocytes, Smooth Muscle / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D016062:Porosity; D011817:Rabbits; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D013499:Surface Properties; D013718:Tensile Strength; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D019737:Transplants
chemical_list: D020099:Coated Materials, Biocompatible; D048271:Chitosan