Electrospun nanofibrous scaffolds for small diameter blood vessels

The ideal scaffolds for creating synthetic small diameter blood vessels have not yet been found. The limitations of implanting these scaffolds are thrombosis formation, intimal hyperplasia and aneurysmal dilation. Electrospinning technique fabricates polymer fibrous scaffolds with average fibre diameters ranging from 50 to 500 nm which is similar to those observed in extracellular matrix of native blood vessels. Therefore, it promotes the adhesion, proliferation and growth of cells. Herein, styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) copolymers has been electrospun and its mechanical properties has been tuned. SBS promoted endothelial cell adhesion and proliferation and provided new surface structure for different tissue engineering applications.