Preparation and Characterization of a Novel Tissue-Engineered Blood Vessel of dECM/CS/Gel Bilayer Scaffolds

Abstract At present, decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM) has become a popular research material worldwide due to its good biocompatibility in the research of small-diameter tissue engineering blood vessels (diameter ≤6mm). In this study, the cells of porcine coronary artery were removed by acellular method to obtain dECM, which was coated with chitosan (CS)/gelatin (Gel) mixed hydrogels with different concentrations to bionic the natural blood vessel’s multilayer structure. The mechanical properties, microstructure, and biocompatibility of scaffolds were characterized. The experiment result showed that the bilayer scaffolds with different proportions were successfully constructed by this method, and the outer layers and inner layers of scaffolds were closely connected, and the pores were evenly distributed. The critical tension and elastic modulus of the five scaffolds showed no significant difference, and all scaffolds had good biocompatibility.