Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Dec 28:10:rbac111.
doi: 10.1093/rb/rbac111. eCollection 2023.

Biological properties of self-assembled nanofibers of elastin-like block polypeptides for tissue-engineered vascular grafts: platelet inhibition, endothelial cell activation and smooth muscle cell maintenance

Kazuki Natsume  1 , Jin Nakamura  2 , Kazuhide Sato  3   4 , Chikara Ohtsuki  1 , Ayae Sugawara-Narutaki  5
Affiliations

Biological properties of self-assembled nanofibers of elastin-like block polypeptides for tissue-engineered vascular grafts: platelet inhibition, endothelial cell activation and smooth muscle cell maintenance

Kazuki Natsume et al. Regen Biomater. .

Abstract

Strategic materials design is essential for the development of small-diameter, tissue-engineered vascular grafts. Self-assembled nanofibers of elastin-like polypeptides represent promising vascular graft components as they replicate the organized elastin structure of native blood vessels. Further, the bioactivity of nanofibers can be modified by the addition of functional peptide motifs. In the present study, we describe the development of a novel nanofiber-forming elastin-like polypeptide (ELP) with an arginine-glutamic acid-aspartic acid-valine (REDV) sequence. The biological characteristics of the REDV-modified ELP nanofibers relevant to applications in vascular grafting were compared to ELP without ligands for integrin, ELP with arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) sequence, collagen and cell culture glass. Among them, REDV-modified ELP nanofibers met the preferred biological properties for vascular graft materials, i.e. (i) inhibition of platelet adhesion and activation, (ii) endothelial cell adhesion and proliferation and (iii) maintenance of smooth muscle cells in a contractile phenotype to prevent cell overgrowth. The results indicate that REDV-modified ELP nanofibers represent promising candidates for the further development of small-diameter vascular grafts.

Keywords: elastin-like polypeptide; endothelial cell; nanofiber; platelet; smooth muscle cell.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

None
Graphical abstract
Figure 1.
Figure 1.
FE-SEM Images of (a–d) protein-coated and (e) uncoated coverglasses. Coverglasses coated with nanofibers of (a) GPG, (b) GPG-RGD, (c) GPG-REDV and (d) collagen. Scale bars correspond to 100 nm.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
(A) FE-SEM Images of adhered platelets on (a) GPG, (b) GPG-RGD, (c) GPG-REDV, (d) collagen and (e) uncoated coverglass. Bars correspond to 10 μm. (B) Number of platelets adhered to each surface. **P < 0.01. Bars represent 1 μm.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
(A) Fluorescence microscopy images of HUVECs (blue, nuclei; green, actin; red, vinculin) adhered on (a) GPG, (b) GPG-RGD, (c) GPG-REDV, (d) collagen and (e) uncoated coverglass after 24 h. Bars correspond to 50 μm. (B) Numbers and (C) coverage of HUVECs adhered to each surface. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01. (D) NO levels in cell culture media.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
(A) Number of HUVECs on each surface. **P < 0.01. (B) Fluorescence microscopy images of HUVECs (blue, nuclei; green, actin; red, vWF) on (a) GPG, (b) GPG-RGD, (c) GPG-REDV, (d) collagen and (e) uncoated coverglass on Day 7. Bars correspond to 50 μm.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
(A) Fluorescence microscopy images of HUASMCs (blue, nuclei; green, actin; red, vinculin) adhered on (a) GPG, (b) GPG-RGD, (c) GPG-REDV, (d) collagen and (e) uncoated coverglass after 24 h. Bars correspond to 50 μm. (B) Number and (C) coverage of HUASMCs adhered to each surface. **P < 0.01.
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
(A) Number of HUASMCs on each surface. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01. (B) Fluorescence microscopy images of HUASMCs (red, αSMA; blue, nuclei; green, actin). Bars correspond to 50 μm. (C) Relative αSMA gene expression of HUASMCs on Day 7. The level of αSMA expression by HUASMCs cultured on glass was set at 1.0. **P < 0.01.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Fayon A, Menu P, El Omar R.. Cellularized small-caliber tissue-engineered vascular grafts: looking for the ultimate gold standard. NPJ Regen Med 2021;6:46. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Song HHG, Rumma RT, Ozaki CK, Edelman ER, Chen CS.. Vascular tissue engineering: progress, challenges, and clinical promise. Cell Stem Cell 2018;22:340–54. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hiob MA, She S, Muiznieks LD, Weiss AS.. Biomaterials and modifications in the development of small-diameter vascular grafts. ACS Biomater Sci Eng 2017;3:712–23. - PubMed
    1. Radke D, Jia W, Sharma D, Fena K, Wang G, Goldman J, Zhao F.. Tissue engineering at the blood-contacting surface: a review of challenges and strategies in vascular graft development. Adv Healthcare Mater 2018;7:1701461. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gupta P, Mandal BB.. Tissue-engineered vascular grafts: emerging trends and technologies. Adv Funct Materials 2021;31:2100027.