Compliance properties of a composite electrospun fibre – hydrogel blood vessel scaffold

Abstract

Compliance properties are considered critical to the long term functionality of vascular grafts and tissue engineered blood vessels in vivo. This study considers the compliance characteristics of vessels constructed from an inner layer of electrospun PVA-SbQ fibres incorporated in a PVA/Gelatin cryogel. The effect of the reinforcement on mechanical compliance in pulsatile flow is characterised over a wide range of mean pressure values (40–140mmHg). Both the reinforced and non-reinforced vessels exhibit pressure-dependent compliance, a property shared with natural blood vessels. While the non-reinforced cryogel is excessively compliant, the incorporation of electrospun fibre reinforcement results in a compliance profile similar to that found in the literature for a human superficial femoral artery.