Electrospun Fibrous Scaffold for Cardiovascular Application

Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death in the United States, with coronary artery disease being the most common. The potential damages of blood vessels and the heart due to thrombosis, restenosis, myocardial infarction, blood clots, etc., and the successful regeneration of cardiac tissue has posed as a significant challenge. Stents have served as a viable option for coronary artery disease. However, with the insertion of uncovered metallic stents, as well as drug-eluting stents comes side effects such as bleeding, inflammation, tumor in-growth, hyperplasia and perforation. The need for a scaffold that has superior structure and material properties for the effective function of blood vessels and the repair of such vessels is necessary. Nanofibrous scaffolds as a coating for a vascular stent shows great potential for this application. This study is aimed to develop a nanofibrous scaffold as a coating membrane for stents or a stent like scaffold that will effectively promote tissue regeneration and will be used to repair cardiovascular tissue. A composite nanofibrous membrane consisting of poly (?-caprolactone) (PCL) and poliglecaprone (PGC) was fabricated by the process of electrospinning. Solutions composed of PCL and PGC with different compositions were prepared and a nanofibrous scaffold was synthesized. The nanofiber surface morphology was analyzed by using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The mechanical properties were evaluated to determine the elasticity as well as the ultimate breaking point. A study of the in vitro degradation of the different fiber compositions were performed over a 4-week period to determine the performance and the ability of the scaffold to degrade in the body. The x-ray diffraction (XRD) was used to determine the crystallographic structure and the degree of crystallinity of the composite fiber. Experimental results of in vitro degradation, using SEM, showed that the nanofibrous membrane containing equal parts of both PCL and PGC could be a relatively fast degradable new fiber membrane to support cell viability and attachment, and therefore has potential for use in cardiovascular tissue regeneration.