title: Biological reaction to small-diameter vascular grafts made of silk fibroin implanted in the abdominal aortae of rats.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Bombyx mori silk fibroin (SF) is biocompatible and degradable and has been proposed as a new material for small-diameter vascular grafts. We compared biological reactions to vascular grafts made of SF and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) to reveal the potential ability of SF as a base and/or coating materials for vascular prostheses.
  
  
  METHODS
  SF was combined with PET or gelatin (G) to make 4 types of vascular grafts (SF/SF, SF/G, PET/SF, and PET/G, shown as "base/coating material," respectively), which are 1.5 mm in diameter and 10 mm in length. The 4 types of grafts (n = 6, respectively) were implanted into rat abdominal aortae and explanted 2 weeks or 3 months later.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Two weeks after implantation, there are no significant differences among the 4 kinds of grafts in biological reactions evaluated by histopathologic examination. However, a remarkable difference was observed after 3 months. The area of tissue infiltration into the inside of the graft wall was approximately 2.5 times larger in SF/SF than that in PET/G. The endothelialization was achieved almost 100% in SF/SF, despite only 50% was achieved in PET/G.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results show that SF has a higher potential as a base of vascular grafts than the commercially available PET/G graft. The larger tissue infiltration area in PET/SF compared with that in PET/G also indicates the potential of SF as a coating material. In the present study, SF delivered promising results as base and coating materials for small-diameter vascular prostheses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Surgery, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Fuchu, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshiharu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fukayama
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Surgery, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Fuchu, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Keisuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takagi
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Surgery, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Fuchu, Tokyo, Japan. Electronic address: t.fukayama0710@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ryou
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Koganei, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hatakeyama
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Koganei, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Derya
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Aytemiz
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Koganei, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Koganei, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Asakura
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001012:Aorta, Abdominal / Q000502:physiology*; D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D001705:Bioprosthesis; D001807:Blood Vessel Prosthesis; D012831:Bombyx; D005260:Female; D005349:Fibroins; D008422:Materials Testing; D023421:Models, Animal; D011093:Polyethylene Terephthalates; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D062326:Re-Epithelialization / Q000502:physiology*; D047011:Silk; D058017:Vascular Grafting
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D011093:Polyethylene Terephthalates; D047011:Silk; D005349:Fibroins