title: Elasticity assessment of electrospun nanofibrous vascular grafts: a comparison with femoral ovine arteries.
abstract: Development of successful small-diameter vascular grafts constitutes a real challenge to biomaterial engineering. In most cases these grafts fail in-vivo due to the presence of a mechanical mismatch between the native vessel and the vascular graft. Biomechanical characterization of real native vessels provides significant information for synthetic graft development. Electrospun nanofibrous vascular grafts emerge as a potential tailor made solution to this problem. PLLA-electrospun nanofibrous tubular structures were prepared and selected as model bioresorbable grafts. An experimental setup, using gold standard and high resolution ultrasound techniques, was adapted to characterize in vitro the poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) electrospun structures. The grafts were subjected to near physiologic pulsated pressure conditions, following the pressure-diameter loop approach and the criteria stated in the international standard for cardiovascular implants-tubular vascular prostheses. Additionally, ovine femoral arteries were subjected to a similar evaluation. Measurements of pressure and diameter variations allowed the estimation of dynamical compliance (%C, 10(-2) mmHg) and the pressure-strain elastic modulus (E(Pε), 10(6) dyn cm(-2)) of the abovementioned vessels (grafts and arteries). Nanofibrous PLLA showed a decrease in %C (1.38±0.21, 0.93±0.13 and 0.76±0.15) concomitant to an increase in EPε (10.57±0.97, 14.31±1.47 and 17.63±2.61) corresponding to pressure ranges of 50 to 90 mmHg, 80 to 120 mmHg and 100 to 150 mmHg, respectively. Furthermore, femoral arteries exhibited a decrease in %C (8.52±1.15 and 0.79±0.20) and an increase in E(Pε) (1.66±0.30 and 15.76±4.78) corresponding to pressure ranges of 50-90 mmHg (elastin zone) and 100-130 mmHg (collagen zone). Arterial mechanics framework, extensively applied in our previous works, was successfully used to characterize PLLA vascular grafts in vitro, although its application can be directly extended to in vivo experiences, in conscious and chronically instrumented animals. The specific design and construction of the electrospun nanofibrous PLLA vascular grafts assessed in this work, showed similar mechanical properties as the ones observed in femoral arteries, at the collagen pressure range.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Acústica Ultrasonora, Instituto de Física, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay. Electronic address: dsuarez@fisica.edu.uy.
authors.forename: D Suarez
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Bagnasco
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales (INTEMA) (UNMdP-CONICET), Mar del Plata, Argentina.. Electronic address: florenciamontini@fi.mdp.edu.ar.
authors.forename: F Montini
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Ballarin
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Investigación y Desarrollo en Bioingeniería (GIBIO), Universidad Tecnológica Nacional, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Electronic address: ljcymber@ieee.org.
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Cymberknop
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Acústica Ultrasonora, Instituto de Física, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay. Electronic address: gbalay@fisica.edu.uy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Balay
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Acústica Ultrasonora, Instituto de Física, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay. Electronic address: negreira.carlos@gmail.com.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Negreira
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales (INTEMA) (UNMdP-CONICET), Mar del Plata, Argentina.. Electronic address: gabraham@fi.mdp.edu.ar.
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Abraham
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Investigación y Desarrollo en Bioingeniería (GIBIO), Universidad Tecnológica Nacional, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Grupo de Ingeniería Aplicada a los procesos biológicos y agrícolas, Centro Universitario Regional Noroeste, Universidad de la República, Uruguay. Electronic address: armen@ieee.org.
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Armentano
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry*; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001807:Blood Vessel Prosthesis; D003094:Collagen / Q000737:chemistry; D004548:Elasticity; D004549:Elastin / Q000737:chemistry; D005263:Femoral Artery / Q000737:chemistry; D019344:Lactic Acid / Q000737:chemistry*; D008297:Male; D057139:Nanofibers / Q000737:chemistry*; D011091:Polyesters; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D012756:Sheep; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D011091:Polyesters; D011108:Polymers; D019344:Lactic Acid; C033616:poly(lactide); D003094:Collagen; D004549:Elastin
keywords: Electrospinning; Mechanical properties; PLLA; Pressure–diameter loop; Vascular grafts