Functionalized Core\Shell nanofibers for the differentiation of Mesenchymal stem cells for Vascular tissue engineering

• Main Authors: Hariharan, Ezhilarasu, Asif, Sadiq, Greeshma, Ratheesh, Sreepathy, Sridhar, Seeram, Ramakrishna, Mohd Hasbi, Ab. Rahim, Rajan, Jose, Venugopal, Jayarama Reddy
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Future Medicine Ltd. 2018
• Subjects: QR Microbiology; RB Pathology; RZ Other systems of medicine
• Online Access: http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/29672/1/Nanomedicine%20%28Lond.%29%20%282019%29%2014%282%29%2C%20201%E2%80%93214.pdf; http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/29672/
• Institution: Universiti Malaysia Pahang

Aim: Atherosclerosis is a common cardiovascular disease causing medical problems globally leading to coronary artery bypass surgery. The present study is to fabricate core/shell nanofibers to encapsulate VEGF for the differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) into smooth muscle cells to develop vascular grafts. Materials & methods: The fabricated core/shell nanofibers contained polycaprolactone/gelatin as the shell, and silk fibroin/VEGF as the core materials. Results: The results observed that the core/shell nanofibers interact to differentiate MSCs into smooth muscle cells by the expression of vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) contractile proteins α-actinin, myosin and F-actin. Conclusion: The functionalized polycaprolactone/gelatin/silk fibroin/VEGF (250 ng) core/shell nanofibers were fabricated for the controlled release of VEGF in a persistent manner for the differentiation of MSCs into smooth muscle cells for vascular tissue engineering.