PLCL from PolySciTech used in development of vascular grafts.

All parts of the body require continuous exposure to oxygenated blood to stay alive. Damage to vascular systems can occur from a variety of causes (cholesterol blockage, wall-thinning/rupture, trauma, etc.) and in these situations the blood vessels may need surgically repaired to maintain blood flow to critical regions. Recently, researchers at Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) and Technion–Israel Institute of Technology (Israel) used PLCL (AP124, AP145) from PolySciTech (www.polyscitech.com) to create prototype vascular grafts. This research holds promise to improve vascular grafting as a treatment option for damaged blood vessels. Read more: Behr, Jean‐Marc, Scott Alexander Irvine, Chaw‐Su Thwin, Ankur Harish Shah, Min‐Chul Kraun Bae, Eyal Zussman, and Subbu Venkatraman. "Matching Static and Dynamic Compliance of Small‐Diameter Arteries, with Poly (lactide‐co‐caprolactone) Copolymers: In Vitro and In Vivo Studies." Macromolecular Bioscience (2020): 1900234. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/mabi.201900234

“Abstract: Mechanical mismatch between vascular grafts and blood vessels is a major cause of smaller diameter vascular graft failure. To minimize this mismatch, several poly‐l‐lactide‐co‐ε‐caprolactone (PLC) copolymers are evaluated as candidate materials to fabricate a small diameter graft. Using these materials, tubular prostheses of 4 mm inner diameter are fabricated by dip‐coating. In vitro static and dynamic compliance tests are conducted, using custom‐built apparatus featuring a closed flow system with water at 37 °C. Grafts of PLC monomer ratio of 50:50 are the most compliant (1.56% ± 0.31∙mm Hg−2), close to that of porcine aortic branch arteries (1.56% ± 0.43∙mm Hg−2), but underwent high continuous dilatation (87 µm min−1). Better matching is achieved by optimizing the thickness of a tubular conduit made from 70:30 PLC grafts. In vivo implantation and function of a PLC 70:30 conduit of 150 µm wall‐thickness (WT) are tested as a rabbit aorta bypass. An implanted 150 µm WT PLC 70:30 prosthesis is observed over 3 h. The recorded angiogram shows continuous blood flow, no aneurysmal dilatation, leaks, or acute thrombosis during the in vivo test, indicating the potential for clinical applications.”

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