Decellularized umbilical artery treated with thin polyelectrolyte multilayer films: Potential use in vascular engineering

Decellularized allograft tissues have been identified as a potential extracellular matrix scaffold for tissue-engineered vascular substitutes. In order to improve the thromboresistance, it is necessary to pre-coat the intra-luminal vessel surface. Recently a new surface modification technique appeared, based on the alternate adsorption of positive and negative charged polyelectrolytes. Our objective was to develop an alternative vascular scaffold made of decellularized human umbilical arteries treated with a PAH/PSS polyelectrolyte multilayered film. The vessels luminal surfaces covered with the multilayer film were observed by electronic scanning microscopy. Our observations showed that the luminal surface is completely devoid of ECs following treatment with trypsin. A top view of the coated artery indicated that the multilayer uniformly covered internal surface of the vessels. The successful of the multilayer correct deposition and retention on the arterial wall were controlled by confocal microscopy using a fluorescent polyelectrolyte (rhodamine-PAH). The data suggest that decellularized cryopreserved arteries represent a potential scaffold for further vascular tissue engineering efforts. Moreover, the multilayer films can be used to coat biological surfaces and following the terminated layer (PAH or PSS), favour the cell adhesion or cell resistance.