Michael Bartolf-Kopp (Würzburg, DE), Csaba Gergely (Würzburg, DE), Nele Pien (Ghent, BE), Leanne De Silva (Utrecht, NL), Gabriel Größbacher (Utrecht, NL), Paulina Núñez Berna (Utrecht, NL), Dr. Matthias Schnabelrauch (Jena, DE), Prof. Dr. Riccardo Levato (Utrecht, NL), Sandra Van Vlierberghe (Ghent, BE), Diego Mantovani (Laval, CA), Prof. Dr. Jürgen Groll (Würzburg, DE), Prof. Dr. Tomasz Jüngst (Würzburg, DE)
Abstract text (incl. figure legends and references)
Intro
The need for new approaches to generate small diameter vascular constructs is still significant, as now only autograft transplants are successfully used as treatment method. Reason for this is a quick onset of occlusion within the scaffold via thrombus formation after implantation. A core factor is a mechanical mismatch of the synthetic graft and the blood vessel it is grafted onto. New strategies to generate mechanics-matched constructs are direly needed.
Objectives
Melt Electrowriting (MEW) onto a tubular collector allows for the generation of tubular reinforcement lattice structures, that can be used in conjunction with other techniques to generate heterotypic scaffolds with adaptable mechanical characteristics. The ability to modulate the mechanics of MEW tubes via geometrical features lends itself to quickly change the mechanics of constructs depending on the intended application.
Materials & Methods
A custom MEW printer has been employed to generate different tubular constructs that could be pre modified via compounding or later allowed for the change of mechanical response, depending on layer height and geometry. Combining constructs with solution electrospun (SES) scaffolds or volumetrically printed hydrogels allowed the generation of tubular constructs with varying mechanical responses.
Results
The generation of SES and MEW tubes with cells seeded onto them allowed to closely mimic the mechanics of different human biopsy samples of relevant autograft vessel types. In conjunction with volumetric printing of GelMA, coronary vessels of porcine origin could be mechanically approximated.
Conclusion
Convergence of different fabrication techniques is forming to be the next big frontier in the field of biofabrication. MEW tubes combined with other methods already demonstrate the potential that convergence can bring towards a better recreation of blood vessel mechanics than what was possible before
Fig.1 Stress/Strain of MEW/SES construct vs vessel