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Author Fornesa Sala, Blanca |
Abstract An aortic aneurysm consists of a dilatation in the aortic wall due to a weakening of the vessel structure. It is a serious vascular condition that has very high mortality rates, especially when the artery dissects or ruptures due to the high pressure applied by blood pulsatility. As the mechanisms of aneurysm progression have not been fully elucidated yet, in vitro vascular models are a key component to research the fluid-vessel interaction. Although many models have been designed in the past, none of them fully recapitulates arterial hemodynamic and geometry. This project aims at mimicking the physical environment of vascular cells and replicating aortic-like shapes which could eventually become the basis of novel surgical vascular grafts. A novel synthetic biocompatible material has been proposed for the polymeric scaffold, poly(glycerol sebacate) methacrylate (PGS-m). PGS-m can be moulded into a wide range of geometries and provides with optimal mechanical and degradational properties. Based on this material, this project develops a method to optimize the PGS-m scaffold curation in any proposed geometry, culturing vascular cells in it and developing postprocess quantification methods. Tubular and aortic-like scaffolds were successfully manufactured, optimizing the previous approaches of the research group. Following scaffold manufacturing, cells were seeded on its inner surface, and cell survival and penetration were observed in static conditions. |
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Director Martorell López, Jordi |
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Degree IQS SE-Master’s Degree in Chemical Engineering |
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Date 2020-07-02
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