Fabrication and Evaluation of Tissue-Engineered Vascular Grafts with Hybrid Fibrous Structure

Bypass surgery has proven to be an effective strategy for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. In this chapter, we describe the preparation of a type of small-diameter vascular grafts with hybrid fibrous structure by co-electrospinning. Of the two components, slow-degrading poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) fibers maintain the structural integrity of the graft and provide sufficient mechanical strength. The other component is rapidly degradable polymer polydioxanone (PDS) or type-I collagen that can be used as a carrier to deliver vasoactive molecules at the same time. The in vivo performance of as-prepared vascular grafts was further evaluated in a rat abdominal aorta replacement model.