In situ densification and heparin immobilization of bacterial cellulose vascular patch for potential vascular applications

Zhiwei Yang; Yichuan Zhang; Yuqin Chen; Ling Fu; Yanan Sun; Zhengzhao Yang; Teng Cui; Jie Wang; Yizao Wan

doi:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.132181

In situ densification and heparin immobilization of bacterial cellulose vascular patch for potential vascular applications

Int J Biol Macromol. 2024 May 11;270(Pt 2):132181. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.132181. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Zhiwei Yang¹, Yichuan Zhang¹, Yuqin Chen¹, Ling Fu¹, Yanan Sun¹, Zhengzhao Yang¹, Teng Cui¹, Jie Wang², Yizao Wan³

Affiliations

¹ Jiangxi Key Laboratory of Nanobiomaterials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, East China Jiaotong University, Nanchang 330013, China.
² Jiangxi Key Laboratory of Nanobiomaterials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, East China Jiaotong University, Nanchang 330013, China. Electronic address: 516988553@qq.com.
³ Jiangxi Key Laboratory of Nanobiomaterials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, East China Jiaotong University, Nanchang 330013, China; School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China. Electronic address: yzwan@tju.edu.cn.

PMID: 38740155
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.132181

Abstract

Nowadays, developing vascular grafts (e.g., vascular patches and tubular grafts) is challenging. Bacterial cellulose (BC) with 3D fibrous network has been widely investigated for vascular applications. In this work, different from BC vascular patch cultured with the routine culture medium, dopamine (DA)-containing culture medium is employed to in situ synthesize dense BC fibrous structure with significantly increased fiber diameter and density. Simultaneously, BC fibers are modified by DA during in situ synthesis process. Then DA on BC fibers can self-polymerize into polydopamine (PDA) accompanied with the removal of bacteria in NaOH solution, obtaining PDA-modified dense BC (PDBC) vascular patch. Heparin (Hep) is subsequently covalently immobilized on PDBC fibers to form Hep-immobilized PDBC (Hep@PDBC) vascular patch. The obtained results indicate that Hep@PDBC vascular patch exhibits remarkable tensile and burst strength due to its dense fibrous structure. More importantly, compared with BC and PDBC vascular patches, Hep@PDBC vascular patch not only displays reduced platelet adhesion and improved anticoagulation activity, but also promotes the proliferation, adhesion, spreading, and protein expression of human umbilical vein endothelial cells, contributing to the endothelialization process. The combined strategy of in situ densification and Hep immobilization provides a feasible guidance for the construction of BC-based vascular patches.

Keywords: Bacterial cellulose; Heparin immobilization; In situ densification; Vascular patch.