Fabrication of ROS-responsive puerarin-loaded HA/PCL small-diameter vascular grafts for accelerated in situ endothelialization.

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases continue to exhibit high global morbidity and mortality rates, driving urgent demand for the development of small-diameter (diameter < 6 mm) vascular grafts. Current small-diameter vascular grafts exhibit low patency rates in vascular reconstruction due to incomplete endothelial coverage. The design of vascular grafts with spontaneous endothelialization is critically needed. Herein, we developed an on-demand ROS-responsive polycaprolactone (PCL) graft modified with puerarin (PUE) and hyaluronic acid (HA) by electrospinning. In this study, PCL mimicked the structure of native blood vessels, and PUE-HA encouraged the antioxidation and endothelialization of vascular grafts with improved biocompatibility. The PUE-HA-PCL graft could promote the adhesion and proliferation of endothelial cells (ECs) and facilitate the process of tissue regeneration. Moreover, the grafts remained completely unobstructed with well-organized elastin fibers for 3 months after implantation. Taken together, the results effectively demonstrate that PUE-HA-PCL will be a promising functional small-diameter vascular graft with spontaneous endothelialization.