Electrospun gelatin-based biomimetic scaffold with spatially aligned and three-layer architectures for vascular tissue engineering

Abstract

The spatial cellular alignment and multi-layer structure are vitally important for the physiological functions of natural blood vessels. However, the two features are difficult to be constructed in one scaffold simultaneously, especially in the small-diameter vascular scaffold. Here we report a general strategy to construct a gelatin-based biomimetic three-layer vascular scaffold with spatial alignment features mimicking the natural structure of blood vessels. By using a sequential electrospinning strategy combined with folding and rolling manipulation, a three-layer vascular scaffold with inner and middle layers spatially perpendicular to each other was obtained. The special features of this scaffold could fully mimic the natural multi-layer structures of blood vessels and also possess great potential for spatial arrangement guidance of corresponding cells in blood vessels.