Trilayered sulfated silk fibroin vascular grafts enhanced with braided silk tube

Abstract

The scaffold component is a major barrier to the development of a clinically useful small-diameter tissue-engineered vascular graft. Scaffold requirements include matching the mechanical and structural properties with those of native vessels and optimizing the microenvironment for cell integration, adhesion, and growth. Trilayered sulfated silk fibroin graft was developed to mimic native tissue structure and function. Physical properties and cell studies were assessed to evaluate the viability of their usage in small-diameter tissue-engineered vascular grafts. Compared with previously fabricated silk fibroin vascular grafts, these trilayered grafts provided comparable water permeability, tensile strength, burst pressure, as well as suture retention strength, to saphenous veins for vascular grafts. In addition, the in vitro results showed good cytocompatibility of the trilayered grafts. These physical and cellular outcomes indicate potential utility of these trilayered sulfated silk fibroin grafts for small-diameter vascular grafts.