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Abstract

Objective:

Patients with congenital and acquired heart diseases or arteriopathy require small-diameter vascular grafts for arterial reconstruction. Autologous veins are the most suitable graft, but when absent, an alternative is necessary. This work addresses the issue.

Background:

Tissue-engineering efforts to create such grafts by modifications of acellular natural scaffolds are considered a promising area.

Methods:

Homologous saphenous veins harvested from cadavers and organ donors were processed by decellularization with detergent and enzymatic digestion, followed by crosslinking by dye-mediated photooxidation. They were validated for acellularity, mechanical strength, and crosslink stability. In-vitro and in-vivo cytotoxicity and hemocompatibility studies were conducted. Collagen conformity was studied by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and heat stability by differential scanning calorimetry. A limited large animal study was performed.

Results:

The processing method delivered biocompatible, hemocompatible, effectively crosslinked grafts, with high heat stability of 126 ℃, an enthalpy value of 183.5 J·g⁻¹, and collagen conformity close to that of the native vein. The mechanical strength was 250% better than the native vein. The presence of extracellular matrix proteins allowed the acellular vein to become a triple-layered vascular structure in the sheep venous system.

Conclusion:

Crosslinking after decellularization by the dye-mediated photooxidation method could be reproduced in any human vein to obtain a small-diameter vascular grafts.

Keywords

Biocompatible materials blood vessel prosthesis materials testing saphenous vein vascular diseases

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