posted on 2020-08-21, 14:04authored byDongfang Wang, Yiyang Xu, Yu-Jyun Lin, Galip Yilmaz, Jue Zhang, George Schmidt, Qian Li, James A. Thomson, Lih-Sheng Turng
Cardiovascular
diseases plague human health because of the lack
of transplantable small-diameter blood vessel (SDBV) grafts. Although
expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) has the potential to be used
as a biocompatible material for SDBV grafts, long-term patency is
still the biggest challenge. As discussed in this paper, by virtue
of a novel material formulation and a new and benign alcohol/water
lubricating agent, biofunctionalized ePTFE blood vessel grafts aimed
at providing long-term patency were fabricated. Compared to the most
prevalent modification of PTFE, namely surface treatment, this method
realized bulk treatment, which could guarantee homogeneous and long-lasting
performance throughout PTFE products. These blood vessel grafts included
embedded functional biomolecules, such as arginylglycylaspartic acid,
heparin, and selenocystamine, using water as a solvent in paste extrusion
and in the expansion of ePTFE. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy,
X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscope
results confirmed the existence of these targeting biomolecules in
the as-fabricated ePTFE blood vessel grafts. Meanwhile, the greatly
improved biological functions of the grafts were demonstrated via live and dead assays, cell morphology, CD31 staining,
nitric oxide (NO) release, and anticoagulation tests. This novel and
benign material formulation and fabrication method provides an opportunity
to produce multibiofunctional ePTFE blood vessel grafts in a single
step, thus yielding a potent product with significant commercial and
clinical potential.