Vascular tissue engineering of small-diameter blood vessels: reviewing the electrospinning approach.
Vascular tissue engineering is a relevant research field aimed at elaborating and proposing innovative solutions to overcome the drawbacks related to the use of conventional blood vessel substitutes, especially referring to small-diameter grafts. For this aim, electrospinning can be regarded as a valuable technique to produce novel scaffolds with several functional characteristics that can be usefully tailored for the application discussed here. The reproduction of the natural extracellular matrix obtained by processing bioresorbable polymers, either functionalized or not, is driving the biomedical research towards technical solutions that can lead to an actual therapeutic improvement. In this context, this paper reviews those studies focused on the selection of suitable biomaterials for vascular applications, their microstructure, the cell response to polymeric fibres and the strategies considered so far to modify and therefore enhance the performance of final electrospun scaffolds.
Department of Industrial Engineering, INSTM Research Unit Roma Tor Vergata, University of Rome 'Tor Vergata', Via del Politecnico 1, 00133, Rome, Italy.
Enrico
E
Ercolani
Department of Industrial Engineering, INSTM Research Unit Roma Tor Vergata, University of Rome 'Tor Vergata', Via del Politecnico 1, 00133, Rome, Italy.
Costantino
C
Del Gaudio
Department of Industrial Engineering, INSTM Research Unit Roma Tor Vergata, University of Rome 'Tor Vergata', Via del Politecnico 1, 00133, Rome, Italy.
Alessandra
A
Bianco
D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry*; D001807:Blood Vessel Prosthesis; D001808:Blood Vessels / Q000473:pathology; D003094:Collagen / Q000737:chemistry; D004146:Dioxanes / Q000737:chemistry; D004549:Elastin / Q000737:chemistry; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D019344:Lactic Acid / Q000737:chemistry; D016687:Polydioxanone / Q000737:chemistry; D011091:Polyesters / Q000737:chemistry; D011100:Polyglycolic Acid / Q000737:chemistry; D000077182:Polylactic Acid-Polyglycolic Acid Copolymer; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry; D011140:Polyurethanes / Q000737:chemistry; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds / Q000737:chemistry*
D001672:Biocompatible Materials; C106136:Biosyn terpolymer; D004146:Dioxanes; D011091:Polyesters; D011108:Polymers; D011140:Polyurethanes; D000077182:Polylactic Acid-Polyglycolic Acid Copolymer; C016240:polycaprolactone; D011100:Polyglycolic Acid; D016687:Polydioxanone; D019344:Lactic Acid; C033616:poly(lactide); C062968:lactide-caprolactone copolymer; D003094:Collagen; D004549:Elastin
biomaterials; electrospinning; small-diameter graft; vascular tissue engineering