Transactions on Additive Manufacturing Meets Medicine
Vol. 7 No. S1 (2025): Trans. AMMM Supplement
https://doi.org/10.18416/AMMM.2025.25062063

Material Properties, Structural Designs, and Printing Technologies, ID 2063

Biomechanical characterization of MEW-manufactured synthetic scaffold structures for tissue-engineered vascular grafts

Main Article Content

Jana Krueger (1) Institute of Technical Chemistry, Leibniz University Hannover, Hannover, Germany; 2)Lower Saxony Center for Biomedical engineering, Implant Research and Development, Hannover, Germany), Annika Baudisch (Lower Saxony Center for Biomedical engineering, Implant Research and Development, Hannover, Germany), Sebastian Loewner (1) Institute of Technical Chemistry, Leibniz University Hannover, Hannover, Germany; 2) Lower Saxony Center for Biomedical engineering, Implant Research and Development, Hannover, Germany), Kai Bernreuther (Lower Saxony Center for Biomedical engineering, Implant Research and Development, Hannover, Germany), Mathias Wilhelmi (Clinic for Caridac, Thoracic, Transplant and Vascular Surgery, Medical School Hannover/St. Bernward Hospital, Hildesheim, Germany), Cornelia Blume (1)Institute of Technical Chemistry, Leibniz University Hannover, Hannover, Germany; 2)Lower Saxony Center for Biomedical engineering, Implant Research and Development, Hannover, Germany)

Abstract

The limitation of synthetic vascular implants as well as the frequent lack of transplantable tissue highlights the necessity for tissue-engineered constructs to provide safe, durable, and indefinite alternatives for tissue replacement. 3D printing methods like melt electrowriting (MEW) [1] provide a promising technique for the production of highly precise and reproduceable scaffold structures. MEW was optimized to produce tubular scaffolds on a custom-made rotating printing bed by using a 3D Printer R-Gen 200 (REGENHU, Villaz-St-Pierre, Switzerland) [2]. Printing parameters like pressure for material extrusion, voltage between collector and nozzle, nozzle offset to the collector and the printing speed, definable and even patient-specific structures were adjusted.


We present a biomechanical characterization of 3D-printed tubular scaffold designs (n= 5-15 per design) which approach those of native porcine blood vessels (n=36, and n=15 vessels decellularized according to [3]). Uniaxial testing at a zwickLine (ZwickRoell GmbH & Ko KG, Ulm, Germany) was performed. Increasing the winding angle of the fibers around the rotational printing bed (from 15 to 75°) showed an increasing effect on tensile strength and Young’s modulus in radial testing, whereas there was no effect in longitudinal testing. A bigger strand diameter (range 52-132 µm) and lowered strand distance (0.5 to 0.2 mm) led to an increased Young’s modulus in longitudinal testing. The degradation rate of ?-polycaprolactone (45 or 80 kg* mmol-1) and poly-L-lactic acid (Sigma, Missouri, US) was observed over a three-month period in incubation assays favoring longer-chained polymers. Following this an intricate interdependency/synergy/interplay between the angle of the printed fibers and the strand diameter as well as the selection of a suitable polymer is crucial for the biomechanical characteristics of 3D-printed tubular scaffolds. The here presented mechanical adaptions of tubular scaffolds for cardiovascular grafts provide a deep insight into bioartificial blood vessel grafts with physiological stress strain behavior and further allow the adaptions of blood vessel scaffolds with patient specific properties.

Article Details

How to Cite

Krueger, J., Baudisch, A., Loewner, S., Bernreuther, K., Wilhelmi, M., & Blume, C. (2025). Biomechanical characterization of MEW-manufactured synthetic scaffold structures for tissue-engineered vascular grafts. Transactions on Additive Manufacturing Meets Medicine, 7(S1), 2063 . https://doi.org/10.18416/AMMM.2025.25062063