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In vitro evaluations of electrospun nanofiber scaffolds composed of poly(ɛ-caprolactone) and polyethylenimine

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Abstract

The work was intended to explore the effect of the widely available cationic polymer polyethylenimine (PEI) on small diameter poly(ɛ-caprolactone) (PCL) blood vessel grafts. PEI was blended with PCL and electrospun into nanofibrous vascular scaffolds. The morphologies, wettabilities, mechanical properties, and biological activities of the PCL/PEI electrospun nanofibers were investigated. It was found that by increasing the content of PEI to 5% within the scaffolds, the fiber diameters decreased from 469.7 ± 212.1 to 282.5 ± 107.1 nm, the water contact angle was reduced from 126.6 ± 1.1° to 27.6 ± 3.9°, while the Young’s modulus increased from 2.0 ± 0.2 to 4.1 ± 0.1 MPa, the suture retention strength increased from 4.2 ± 0.4 to 6.1 ± 0.7 N, and the burst pressure increased from 801.2 ± 14.1 to 926.2 ± 22.8 mmHg. The in vitro evaluations demonstrated that the nanofibers containing 2% PEI promoted the attachment and proliferation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs).

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery (WID), the China Scholarship Council, the financial support of the National Nature Science Foundation of China (No. 51073061, No. 21174044), the Guangdong Nature Science Foundation (No. S2013020013855, No. 9151064101000066), and National Basic Research Development Program 973 (No. 2012CB025902) in China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Key Laboratory of Polymer Processing Engineering of Ministry of Education, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510640, China

    Xin Jing, Hao-Yang Mi & Xiang-Fang Peng

  2. Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, 53715, USA

    Xin Jing, Hao-Yang Mi, Max R. Salick, Travis Cordie, Jason McNulty & Lih-Sheng Turng

  3. Department of Engineering Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, 53715, USA

    Max R. Salick

  4. Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, 53715, USA

    Travis Cordie

  5. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, 53715, USA

    Jason McNulty & Lih-Sheng Turng

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  1. Xin Jing
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Correspondence to Xiang-Fang Peng or Lih-Sheng Turng.

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Jing, X., Mi, HY., Salick, M.R. et al. In vitro evaluations of electrospun nanofiber scaffolds composed of poly(ɛ-caprolactone) and polyethylenimine. Journal of Materials Research 30, 1808–1819 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2015.117

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