Tri-Layered Vascular Grafts Guide Vascular Cells’ Native-like Arrangement
Open accessAbstract
Bionic grafts hold great promise for directing tissue regeneration. In vascular tissue engineering, although a large number of synthetic grafts have been constructed, these substitutes only partially recapitulated the tri-layered structure of native arteries. Synthetic polymers such as poly(l-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone) (PLCL) possess good biocompatibility, controllable degradation, remarkable processability, and sufficient mechanical strength. These properties of PLCL show great promise for fabricating synthetic vascular substitutes. Here, tri-layered PLCL vascular grafts (TVGs) composed of a smooth inner layer, circumferentially aligned fibrous middle layer, and randomly distributed fibrous outer layer were prepared by sequentially using ink printing, wet spinning, and electrospinning techniques. TVGs possessed kink resistance and sufficient mechanical properties (tensile strength, elastic modulus, suture retention strength, and burst pressure) equivalent to the gold standard conduits of clinical application, i.e., human saphenous veins and human internal mammary arteries. The stratified structure of TVGs exhibited a visible guiding effect on specific vascular cells including enhancing endothelial cell (EC) monolayer formation, favoring vascular smooth muscle cells’ (VSMCs) arrangement and elongation, and facilitating fibroblasts’ proliferation and junction establishment. Our research provides a new avenue for designing synthetic vascular grafts with polymers.
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3D printing technology can realize customized design of artificial vascular grafts and the design and preparation of complex vascular structures.
“3D printing technology can realize the customized design of artificial vascular grafts and the design and preparation of complex vascular structures [154].”
From Application of PLCL as a biodegradable polymer in biomedical engineering (2026) · cites this paper as [154]
The Introduction lists 3D printing among techniques used to construct synthetic vascular grafts. The Conclusions describe a tri-layered graft made by combining ink printing, wet spinning, and electrospinning, but do not establish that 3D printing alone enables customized graft design or the preparation of complex vascular structures. No page numbers are provided in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredUsing PLCL as the model material, Han et al. fabricated a multi-branch vascular scaffold array with high accuracy through 3D printing based on material plastination process; the scaffold exhibits high structural fidelity and good mechanical properties, meeting construction of complex organ model structure.
“Using PLCL as the model material, Han et al. fabricated a multi-branch vascular scaffold array with high accuracy through 3D printing technology based on material plastination process. This scaffold exhibits high structural fidelity and good mechanical properties, which can meet the construction of complex organ model structure”
From Application of PLCL as a biodegradable polymer in biomedical engineering (2026) · cites this paper as [154]
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- Authors
- Yuan, X., Li, W., Yao, B., Li, Z., Kong, D., Huang, S., & Zhu, M.
- Affiliations
- Nankai University (CN)
- Chinese PLA General Hospital (CN)
- Research Center for Tissue Repair and Regeneration, The Medical Innovation Research Department, PLA General Hospital and PLA Medical College, Beijing 100853, China
- Corresponding author
- Huang, Sha
- Zhu, Meifeng
- Venue
- Polymers
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2022-03-28
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 1370
- ISSN
- 2073-4360 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC9003212
- OpenAlex
- W4220665591
- Cited by
- 24
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 8
- FWCI
- 1.13
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Polymers (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (81972063)
- National Key Research Development Plan (2017YFC1103300)
- Medical Innovation Research Project of Chinese PLA General Hospital (CX19026)
- China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2019M650640)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Biomaterials › Electrospun Nanofibers in Biomedical Applications
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Biomaterials › biodegradable polymer synthesis and properties
- Keywords
- poly(L-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone), tissue regeneration, inkjet printing, wet spinning, electrospinning, kink resistance, mechanical properties, fibroblast proliferation, stratified structures
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