A recurring issue of synthetic vascular grafts is finding a mechanically strong material that is able to withstand high stresses but also flexible enough be compliant within cyclically changing physiological pressures. An ideal tissue-engineered vascular graft is compatible at varying blood pressures and has similar elastic properties as native vessels. Mechanical property testing of the graft material is, therefore, an important step in assessing a graft’s viability.
The Cardiovascular Regenerative Engineering Laboratory has approached this problem by fabricating novel magnetic grafts by electrospinning polyurethane (PU) and stainless-steel magnetic powder (2205) at various mass ratios. CaRE then developed a test bench and two MATLAB applications to perform dynamic radial compliance and pressurized burst strength testing on the synthesized vascular grafts. The Test Bench allows for testing and comparison of various sizes or materials of synthesized vascular grafts, and mechanical responses for both dynamic radial compliance and pressurized burst strength have been investigated for grafts of varying mass ratios.
This project was selected for funding from Marquette’s 2019 summer undergraduate research fellowship.
Tefft BJ, Choe JA, Young MD, Hennessy RS, Morse DW, Bouchard JA, Hedberg HJ, Consiglio JF, Dragomir-Daescu D, Simari RD, Lerman A (2019). Cardiac valve bioreactor for physiological conditioning and hydrodynamic performance assessment. Cardiovascular Engineering and Technology, 10(1): 80-94. [PMID 30311149]
Choe JA, Jana S, Tefft BJ, Hennessy RS, Go J, Morse D, Lerman A, Young MD. Biomaterial characterization of off-the-shelf decellularized porcine pericardial tissue for use in prosthetic valvular applications. J Tissue Eng Regen Med. 2018 07;12(7):1608-1620 PMID: 29749108 PMCID: PMC6055610 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85047823251 05/12/2018
