Fabrication and Short-Term in Vivo Performance of a Natural Elastic Lamina-Polymeric Hybrid Vascular Graft.

Although significant advances have been made in the development of artificial vascular grafts, small-diameter grafts still suffer from excessive platelet activation, thrombus formation, smooth muscle cell intimal hyperplasia, and high occurrences of restenosis. Recent discoveries demonstrating the excellent blood-contacting properties of the natural elastic lamina have raised the possibility that an acellular elastic lamina could effectively serve as a patent blood-contacting surface in engineered vascular grafts. However, the elastic lamina alone lacks the requisite mechanical properties to function as a viable vascular graft.