Electrospun biomimetic polymer nanofibers as vascular grafts

Abstract

Despite all other technologies reported in literature, electrospinning has gained significant importance because of its ability to fabricate nanostructures with distinctive properties, including high surface area and porosity. Electrospinning has been evolved as the most widely used technique in the recent century. It has been employed in various biomedical applications such as tissue-engineered vascular grafts. This can develop fibrous scaffolds that mimic the structure of extracellular matrix of native blood vessels, suitable for the promotion of cell adhesion, proliferation, and cell growth. There is a growing demand for tissue-engineered vascular grafts for the replacement of damaged or defected blood vessels in cardiovascular diseases. The purpose of this review is to summarize recent developments related to electrospun vascular grafts with different synthetic and natural polymers and electrospinning parameters that affect the final properties of vascular grafts. The main focus of this review is also to describe the previously used materials for electrospun vascular grafts and their applications with respect to small and large diameter vascular grafts.