Reconstruction of abdominal wall with scaffolds of electrospun poly (l-lactide-co caprolactone) and porcine fibrinogen: An experimental study in the canine.

Background: The use of permanent synthetic materials for abdominal wall repair is currently the method of choice. However, they are not ideal as short-term and long-term complications have been reported for these materials including chronic groin pain (pain that lasted longer than 3 months), which occurred in 10-12% of patients, and host immunological responses to foreign body grafts. In the present randomized paired study we compared an electrospun composite scaffold composed of poly (l-lactide-co-caprolactone) [PLCL] blended with porcine fibrinogen (F-Fg) (PLCL/F-Fg), with a polypropylene mesh (PPM) as the control in a canine abdominal wall defect model (in 36 Beagle dogs).
Results: A blend ratio of 4:1 PLCL: F-Fg1 scaffold possessed optimal physical characteristics including shrinkage rate, mechanical strength, porosity and super-hydrophilic properties. Macroscopic, histological and biomechanical evaluations were performed over a period of 36 weeks and the results indicated that the resorbable PLCL/F-Fg1 electrospinning scaffold could effectively induce and augment abdominal skeletal muscle regeneration. The degradation rate of the PLCL/F-Fg1 scaffold and the rate of new tissue growth reached a balance and the biomechanical strength returned to baseline within 2 weeks of implantation. The immunohistological data demonstrated the presence of regenerated skeletal muscle tissue for PLCL/F-Fg1 scaffolds, whereas the PPM exhibited dense fibrous encapsulation along the perimeter of the mesh.
Conclusions: The data provides the foundation for future clinical applications of PLCL/F-Fg1 composite scaffolds for reconstructive surgery of abdominal wall defects.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest LS, LY, MY, HHZ, QHZ, and HBH received financial support in the form of salaries from Shanghai Pine & Power Biotech Co., Ltd. (Shanghai, China). SJL, XXL and JXT have no competing interests to declare.
(Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier B.V.)