Search

BACKGROUND: The stable and controllable release of nitric oxide from artificial blood vessel materials at the physiological level is not only the key technology to inhibit the formation of thrombus on small-diameter artificial blood vessel inner walls, but also is of great significance for developing novel artificial blood vessel materials. OBJECTIVE: To review the research and application progress of artificial blood vessel materials in recent years, and focus on introducing nitric oxide-releasing artificial blood vessel materials. METHODS: CNKI, Wanfang, Google Scholar, and PubMed databases were searched with key words such as “vascular graft, blood vessel, catalytic nitric oxide, tissue engineering” in English, “artificial blood vessel, catalytic NO” in Chinese from January 2000 to July 2020 for relevant articles. The retrieved articles were screened and summarized. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: A series of polymer materials, coating materials and nano composite materials exhibited similar nitric oxide production flux and release rate with natural endothelial tissues. Among them, artificial blood vessel materials loaded with organic selenium, copper ions, keratin, and nano-noble metals have shown great potentialities in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. The artificial blood vessel materials loaded with organic selenium had long catalytic durations, good biocompatibilities, and excellent mechanical properties. The artificial blood vessel materials loaded with copper had good biological safeties and strong anti-thrombotic abilities. The performance of artificial blood vessel materials loaded with organic selenium and copper ions showed longterm and stable catalytic abilities and selective enhancement abilities of endothelial cell activities. Artificial blood vessel materials containing keratin showed excellent cell compatibility and functional expansibilities. The other artificial blood vessel materials containing substances that could catalyze nitric oxide production also exhibited good potential developments in the future. Up to now, the effects of pre-clinical development or post-clinical trials of implantable biomaterials that release nitric oxide are still unclear, and some important technical issues such as the release time of nitric oxide and the effects on endothelial cells need to be resolved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]