Structure and properties of electrospun silk fibroin-poly(butylene succinate) artificial blood vessel

To develop a small-diameter tissue engineering blood vessel,the silk fibroin(SF)/ poly(butylene succinate)(PBS) tubular scaffolds were fabricated via electrospinning.During the electrospinning process,the electrospun SF/PBS composite tubular scaffolds were collected on a 3-D collector instead of traditional 2-D collector.The effects of 3-D collector and process parameters of electrospinning on the morphologies of the tubular scaffolds were investigated.FT-IR was used to study the secondary structure of SF.The mechanical properties and porosities of the tubular fiber materials were characterized.The results showed that SF/PBS composite tubular materials with different sizes and shapes could be prepared by changing the voltage,TCD and the structure of 3-D collectors.The porosity,tensile stress,elongation at break and burst pressure of the composite tubular scaffold were 84.6%,4.31 MPa,46.21% and 358 kPa,respectively.