Electrospun Polydioxanone, Elastin, and Collagen Vascular Scaffolds: Uniaxial Cyclic Distension

The development of vascular grafts requires thematching of material and viscoelastic properties tothose of native artery. The hypothesis of this studywas to subject electrospun tissue engineeringscaffolds composed of polydioxanone, elastin, andcollagen to cyclic loading in order to quantify thehysteretic properties, uniaxial tensile mechanicalproperties of conditioned scaffolds, and stressrelaxation properties over a period of 400 cycleswhen compared to ePTFE, one of the most popularvascular prosthetic materials, and decellularized pigartery. In the electrospun graft, polydioxanone wouldprovide a mechanical backbone, providing tensilesupport and preventing vessel rupture; while theelastin would provide elasticity and collagen wouldprovide bioactivity (promote regeneration in vitro/insitu).