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K. Ehrmann, C. Grasl, H. Bergmeister, H. Schima, B. Podesser, R. Liska, S. Baudis:
"Reconciling Contradicting Properties: Strong Biodegradable Thermoplastic Polyurethanes for Electrospun Small-Diameter Vascular Grafts";
Vortrag: 11th World Biomaterials Congress, Hampshire, United Kingdom, online; 11.12.2020 - 15.12.2020; in: "11th World Biomaterials Congress", 11th World Biomaterials Congress, (2020), S. 1.

The use of biodegradable materials in tissue engineered scaffolds has come into focus for many applications1, including small-diameter vascular grafts2. While many ready-to-use materials exhibit excellent biodegradation, the combination of this property with excellent mechanical stability is usually not present in these materials, particularly in thermoplasts.2 We have developed hard block degradable thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPUs) through the design of cleavable chain extenders.3,4 (Figure 1) Additionally, the ideal choice of diisocyanate components was investigated to optimize the mechanical properties further.5 The integration of all obtained data has led to a new perspective on the reconciliation of the contradicting material properties biodegradability and mechanical stability.
Experimental methods: Novel cleavable chain extenders were designed and synthesized. TPUs were prepared on the basis of these chain extenders by the prepolymer method. The resulting materials were tested for their mechanical properties, degradation properties, and biocompatibility. Electrospinning was utilized to process the materials into highly porous tubes with diameters of
1.5 - 2.0 mm. The resulting extracellular matrix mimicking grafts were tested mechanically and in vivo.

biodegradable materials, small-diameter vascular grafts, degradable thermoplastic polyurethanes