Blood-Vessel Mimicking Structures by Stereolithographic Fabrication of Small Porous Tubes Using Cytocompatible Polyacrylate Elastomers, Biofunctionalization and Endothelialization.
Blood vessel reconstruction is still an elusive goal for the development of in vitro models as well as artificial vascular grafts. In this study, we used a novel photo-curable cytocompatible polyacrylate material (PA) for freeform generation of synthetic vessels. We applied stereolithography for the fabrication of arbitrary 3D tubular structures with total dimensions in the centimeter range, 300 µm wall thickness, inner diameters of 1 to 2 mm and defined pores with a constant diameter of approximately 100 µm or 200 µm. We established a rinsing protocol to remove remaining cytotoxic substances from the photo-cured PA and applied thio-modified heparin and RGDC-peptides to functionalize the PA surface for enhanced endothelial cell adhesion. A rotating seeding procedure was introduced to ensure homogenous endothelial monolayer formation at the inner luminal tube wall. We showed that endothelial cells stayed viable and adherent and aligned along the medium flow under fluid-flow conditions comparable to native capillaries. The combined technology approach comprising of freeform additive manufacturing (AM), biomimetic design, cytocompatible materials which are applicable to AM, and biofunctionalization of AM constructs has been introduced as BioRap(®) technology by the authors.
Institute of Interfacial Process Engineering and Plasma Technology IGVP, University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart 70569, Germany. biggihuber@gmx.de.
Birgit
B
Huber
Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen, RWTH Aachen, Aachen 52074, Germany. sascha.engelhardt@rwth-aachen.de.
Sascha
S
Engelhardt
Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP, Potsdam 14476, Germany. wolfdietrich.meyer@iap.fraunhofer.de.
Wolfdietrich
W
Meyer
Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP, Potsdam 14476, Germany. hartmut.krueger@iap.fraunhofer.de.
Hartmut
H
Krüger
Institute of Interfacial Process Engineering and Plasma Technology IGVP, University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart 70569, Germany. annika.wenz@igvp.uni-stuttgart.de.
Annika
A
Wenz
Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB, Stuttgart 70569, Germany. veronika.schoenhaar@igb.fraunhofer.de.
Veronika
V
Schönhaar
Institute of Interfacial Process Engineering and Plasma Technology IGVP, University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart 70569, Germany. guenter.tovar@igvp.uni-stuttgart.de.|Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB, Stuttgart 70569, Germany. guenter.tovar@igvp.uni-stuttgart.de.
Günter E M
GE
Tovar
Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB, Stuttgart 70569, Germany. petra.kluger@igb.fraunhofer.de.|Process Analysis &amp; Technology (PA&amp;T), Reutlingen University, Reutlingen 72762, Germany. petra.kluger@igb.fraunhofer.de.
Petra J
PJ
Kluger
Institute of Interfacial Process Engineering and Plasma Technology IGVP, University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart 70569, Germany. kirsten.borchers@igb.fraunhofer.de.|Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB, Stuttgart 70569, Germany. kirsten.borchers@igb.fraunhofer.de.
Kirsten
K
Borchers
artificial blood vessel; biofunctionalization; endothelialization; small branched and porous tubes; stereolithography; thio-modified heparin