Photopolymerizable Elastomers for Vascular Tissue Regeneration |
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| Authors: | Stefan Baudis Bernhard Steyrer Thomas Pulka Harald Wilhelm Guenter Weigel Helga Bergmeister Juergen Stampfl Robert Liska |
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| Institution: | 1. Institute of Applied Synthetic Chemistry - Division Macromolecular Chemistry, Vienna University of Technology, Getreidemarkt 9/163MC, 1060 Vienna, Austria;2. TGM Vienna, Wexstraße 19-23, 1200 Vienna, Austria;3. Ludwig-Boltzmann Cluster for Cardiovascular Research, Vienna Medical University, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, 1090 Vienna, Austria;4. Institute of Materials Science and Technology, Vienna University of Technology, Favoritenstraße 9-11, 1040 Vienna, Austria |
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| Abstract: | The aim of this study was to design new resin formulations for blood vessel substitutes with small inner diameter that can be 3D-printed by Additive Manufacturing (AM). Commercially available urethane oligomer acrylates as crosslinking agents (CAs) with different reactive diluents (RDs) and/or thiol chain transfer agents (CTAs) were examined. It could be shown that the properties of photopolymers of carefully selected CA/RD/CTA combinations can be varied in a wide range, also to fit with those of natural blood vessels. Moreover, these materials showed good biocompatibility in in-vitro cell culture tests with endothelial cells. A new method to assess the tear resistance of the new materials in comparison with natural blood vessels was designed and established. The tear resistance of the developed photopolymers already approaches those of natural material, although there is still need of improvement. The 3D-structuring of optimized resin system succeeded. Hence AM has proven to be an ideal tool to manufacture parts with the complex structure of natural blood vessels. |
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| Keywords: | additive manufacturing biocompatibility biomaterial elastomers photopolymerization |
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