Cytocompatibility of electrospun nanofiber tubular scaffolds for small diameter tissue engineering blood vessels

A tubular scaffold was fabricated by using electrospun polymer solution blends of pNSR32 (recombinant spider silk protein), PCL (polycaprolactone) and Gt (gelatin). The physicochemical properties and cytocompatibility of these scaffolds were investigated. Afterwards, the pNSR32/PCL/Gt tubular scaffold (inner diameter = 3 mm) showed high porosity of 86.2 +/- 2.9%, pore size of 2423 +/- 979 nm and average fibre diameter of 166 +/- 85 nm. Water uptake and contact angle of the scaffolds reached 112.0 +/- 4.4% and 45.7 +/- 13.7 degrees, respectively. SDRAECs (Sprague Dawley Rat Aortic Endothelial Cells) grew and proliferated well and phenotype could be maintained on the composite scaffolds after they had been cultured on the composite scaffolds for 7 days. Compared with pure PCL scaffolds a greater density of viable cells was seen on the composites, especially the pNSR32/PCL/Gt scaffolds. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.