Journal: Scientific Reports

Article Title: Fabrication and In Vitro Characterization of a Tissue Engineered PCL-PLLA Heart Valve

doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-26452-y

Figure Lengend Snippet: The fabrication process of the heart valve. ( A ) PCL: PLLA scaffolds were electrospun. ( B ) Heart valve leaflet shaped scaffold was wrapped around a printed stent. ( C ) Valvular interstitial cells were three dimensional-seeded using a rotary dynamic seeding, followed by ( D ) the surface seeding of cardiac stem cells on both sides. ( E ) The performance of the developed engineered heart valve structure was compared with an Edward commercial heart valve by studying the hemodynamics using a pulse duplicator system, and the Doppler flow velocity using an echocardiography system.

Article Snippet: Also, we were able to develop a flow loop pulsed duplicator system in combination with an ultrasound based experimental flow system enabling us to evaluate the hemodynamic performance of the engineered tri-leaflet heart valve in vitro in a biomimetic cardiac environment.

Techniques:

Journal: Scientific Reports

Article Title: Fabrication and In Vitro Characterization of a Tissue Engineered PCL-PLLA Heart Valve

doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-26452-y

Figure Lengend Snippet: Preparation of PCL: PLLA heart valve leaflet shaped scaffold. ( A ) Fabrication of the heart valve leaflet. (i) A stent was designed using a CAD software (Solid works) to provide the supporting structure of the valve. (ii) Schematic of wrapping around the designed stent, then it was 3D printed using object 260 (Stratasys Ltd) with Vero white material. (iii) PCL: PLLA scaffold was cut into shape with a metal cutter. (iv) It was wrapped around the printed stent. Finally, (v) it was joined with the 3D printed stent using melted PCL. ( B ) Testing the fabricated PCL: PLLA valve using pulse duplicator system. (i) Top view, (ii) bottom view of the valve, (iii) the fabricated PCL: PLLA valve mounted on a disk for installing on pulse duplicator to be compared to (iv) commercial heart valve (Edwards 2800 valve). (v) The valve was housed into (vi) the pulse duplicator system. The pulse duplicator system used to test the fabricated valve subjected to artificial flood (25% glycerol and 0.9% saline solution) flow with pressure of 30 mmHg and heart rate 70 bpm in 10 h.

Article Snippet: Also, we were able to develop a flow loop pulsed duplicator system in combination with an ultrasound based experimental flow system enabling us to evaluate the hemodynamic performance of the engineered tri-leaflet heart valve in vitro in a biomimetic cardiac environment.

Techniques: Software, Saline

Journal: Scientific Reports

Article Title: Fabrication and In Vitro Characterization of a Tissue Engineered PCL-PLLA Heart Valve

doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-26452-y

Figure Lengend Snippet: Pulsed duplicator system pressure readings for the tested valves. ( A ) Pressure readings for (i) PCL valve at concentration 10% w/v, (ii) PCL: PLLA valve, and (iii) commercial valve (Edwards 2800 valve). The first arrow (black) shows the time point where the lower pressure went below the upper pressure; at this point, the valve closes. The leaflets stay closed until the second arrow (green) at which point lower pressure becomes higher than upper pressure. The interval between these two arrows represents the closure duration of the valve. PCL valve stay closed more than the PCL: PLLA valve but less than the commercial valve. ( B ) Pressure readings such as the upper and lower pressure, pressure difference, and valve closed duration for the tested valves. Less pressure difference is generated in the PCL valve compared to PCL: PLLA valve. The pressure difference for PCL valve is still higher than the commercial valve.

Article Snippet: Also, we were able to develop a flow loop pulsed duplicator system in combination with an ultrasound based experimental flow system enabling us to evaluate the hemodynamic performance of the engineered tri-leaflet heart valve in vitro in a biomimetic cardiac environment.

Techniques: Concentration Assay, Generated