In vitro evaluations of electrospun nanofiber scaffolds composed of poly(ε-caprolactone) and polyethylenimine

Xin Jing, Hao Yang Mi, Max R. Salick, Travis Cordie, Jason McNulty, Xiang Fang Peng*, Lih Sheng Turng

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal Article peer-review

22 Scopus citations

Abstract

The work was intended to explore the effect of the widely available cationic polymer polyethylenimine (PEI) on small diameter poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) blood vessel grafts. PEI was blended with PCL and electrospun into nanofibrous vascular scaffolds. The morphologies, wettabilities, mechanical properties, and biological activities of the PCL/PEI electrospun nanofibers were investigated. It was found that by increasing the content of PEI to 5% within the scaffolds, the fiber diameters decreased from 469.7 ± 212.1 to 282.5 ± 107.1 nm, the water contact angle was reduced from 126.6 ± 1.1° to 27.6 ± 3.9°, while the Young's modulus increased from 2.0 ± 0.2 to 4.1 ± 0.1 MPa, the suture retention strength increased from 4.2 ± 0.4 to 6.1 ± 0.7 N, and the burst pressure increased from 801.2 ± 14.1 to 926.2 ± 22.8 mmHg. The in vitro evaluations demonstrated that the nanofibers containing 2% PEI promoted the attachment and proliferation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs).

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1808-1819
Number of pages12
JournalJournal of Materials Research
Volume30
Issue number11
DOIs
StatePublished - 24 04 2015
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2015.

Keywords

  • electrospinning
  • endothelial cells
  • poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL)
  • polyethylenimine (PEI)
  • vascular tissue engineering

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