Electrospinning of highly concentrated albumin patches by using auxiliary polymers for laser-assisted vascular anastomosis

摘要

Background and objective. Electrospunmeshes have been extensively investigated for tissue engineering and drug delivery.The application of this technology is of interest for laser-assisted vascular anastomosis (LAVA) due to the possibility to bind and stabilizemacromolecules in fibers.Materials andmethods. We prepared bovine serumalbumin (BSA) blendmicrofibers fromthe auxiliary proteins polyethylene oxide (PEO), polycaprolactone (PCL), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and gelatin.The thickness and weight of the resulting patchesweremeasured and themorphological characteristicswere observed by scanning electron microscopy.Thereafter, layered patches were prepared by spinning the BSA/polymer layer on top of a light absorbing layermade of indocyanine green andPCL.The effect of thematerial composition of the electrospun patches on the behavior during LAVA, the bonding strength and the resulting thermal damage were investigated. Results.The bonding strength of the tissue fusion increasedwith higher BSAamounts in the patch.By using PEO, a ratio of 85/15 (w/w) of BSA/PEOwas stable during electrospinning, leading to a shear strength thatwas similar to patches that were soaked in liquid BSA (20.7±4.1mNmm~(-2) and 20.3±4.1mNmm~(-2), respectively). The handling during LAVAwas however drastically improved by using a layered patchmade fromBSA/PEO.Thermal damagewas similar compared to previous soldermaterials. Conclusion.This study investigated themaximum amount of BSApossible in electrospun polymer fibersmade fromPEO,PCL, PVAand gelatin. Both, the process of electrospinning and the performance during ex vivoLAVA,makes theBSA/PEOblend a promisingmaterial for LAVA.