Electrospun tubes based on PLA, gelatin and genipin in different arrangements for blood vessel tissue engineering

Four tubular membranes based on PLA and gelatin with different arrangements (PLA, gelatin, PLA-gelatin Blend and PLA/gelatin Core/Shell) were prepared by the electrospinning technique, the gelatin within the materials was crosslinked with genipin and all the meshes were characterized by SEM, ATR-FTIR, TGA, DSC, XRD and mechanical tests, also a viability essay and a confocal microscopy of HUVECs in contact with the materials were carried out. A 50% decrement of cellular viability was observed in the fibers with Core/Shell structure since the first day of culture compared with the tissue culture polystyrene, due to solubilization of non-crosslinked gelatin.