Heparin functionalized polyaspartamide/polyester scaffold for potential blood vessel regeneration

Abstract

An interesting issue in tissue engineering is the development of a biodegradable vascular graft able to substitute a blood vessel and to allow its complete regeneration. Here, we report a new scaffold potentially useful as a synthetic vascular graft, produced through the electrospinning of α,β-poly(N-2-hydroxyethyl) (2-aminoethylcarbamate)-D,L-aspartamide-graft-polylactic acid (PHEA-EDA-g-PLA) in the presence of polycaprolactone (PCL). The scaffold degradation profile has been evaluated as well as the possibility to bind heparin to electrospun fibers, being it a known anticoagulant molecule able to bind growth factors. In vitro cell compatibility has been investigated using human vascular endothelial cells (ECV 304) and the ability of heparinized PHEA-EDA-g-PLA/PCL scaffold to retain basic fibroblast growth factor has been evaluated in comparison with not heparinized sample.

Keywords: electrospinning; graft copolymer; heparin; tissue engineering; vascular graft.