Electrospinning collagen and elastin: preliminary vascular tissue engineering

Significant challenges must be overcome before the true benefit and economic impact of vascular tissue engineering can be fully realized. Toward that end, we have pioneered the electrospinning of micro- and nano-fibrous scaffoldings from the natural polymers collagen and elastin and applied these to development of biomimicking vascular tissue engineered constructs. The vascular wall composition and structure is highly intricate and imparts unique biomechanical properties that challenge the development of a living tissue engineered vascular replacement that can withstand the high pressure and pulsatile environment of the bloodstream. The potential of the novel scaffold presented here for the development of a viable vascular prosthetic meets these stringent requirements in that it can replicate the complex architecture of the blood vessel wall. This replication potential creates an "ideal" environment for subsequent in vitro development of a vascular replacement. The research presented herein provides preliminary data toward the development of electrospun collagen and elastin tissue engineering scaffolds for the development of a three layer vascular construct.