Journal «Angiology and Vascular Surgery» • 

2018 • VOLUME 24 • №1

Development and assessment of efficacy of L-polylactide matrix for creation of a tissue-engineered vascular graft

Popov G.I.1, Popryadukhin P.V.2, Dobrovolskaya I.P.2, Yudin V.E.2,3, Vavilov V.N.1, Yukina G.Yu.4, Ivankova E.M.2

1) Vascular Surgery Department, Scientific Research Institute of Surgery and Emergency Medicine, First Saint-Petersburg State Medical University named after Academician I.P. Pavlov Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation,
2) Laboratory of Mechanics of Biopolymers and Composite Materials, Institute of High-Molecular-Weight Compounds, Russian Academy of Sciences,
3) Laboratory of Polymeric Materials for Tissue Engineering and Transplantology, Peter the Great Saint-Petersburg State Polytechnic University,
4) Laboratory of Pathomorphology, Scientific Research Centre, First Saint-Petersburg State Medical University named after Academician I.P. Pavlov Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Saint-Petersburg, Russia

In order to create a tissue-engineered vascular graft we elaborated a matrix consisting of nanofibres of biodegradable polymer L-polylactide. We worked out the methodology of crystallization of the matrix on a rod, making it possible to manufacture specimens possessing strength and deformity characteristics superior to those of native vessels. This was followed by a series of chronic experiments on implanting the elaborated matrix into the abdominal aorta of rats for the duration of up to 16 months. We obtained satisfactory parameters of the patency of the matrices (71%). According to the findings of histological examination, in the course of time there occurred biodegradation of the matrix and formation of a new vascular wall, with no evidence of either inflammation or neointimal hyperplasia in the zone of the anastomoses. Resorption of the polymeric fibres commenced 12 weeks after exposure and completely terminated after 64 weeks. By that time, both neointima and neoadventitia were formed, whose composition and structure were close to those of the native vessel. Insufficiently high mechanical properties of the zone of reconstruction turned out to be the cause of the formation of aneurysms.

KEY WORDS: tissue engineering, matrix, nanofibre, L-polylactide, vascular graft.

P. 45

« Back