Highly tough and ultrafast self-healable dual physically crosslinked sulfated alginate-based polyurethane elastomers for vascular tissue engineering

Since vascular diseases are regarded as a major cause of death worldwide, developing engineered biomimetic elastomers with physicochemical and biological properties resembling those of the natural vascular tissues, is vital for vascular tissue engineering (VTE). This study reports synthesis of highly tough supramolecular biologically active alginate-based supramolecular polyurethane (BASPU) elastomers that benefit from the presence of two physical networks with different strength of soft tertiary ammonium-soft sulfate pairs, as strong ionic bonds, and soft tertiary ammonium-hard carboxylate groups, as the weak bonds. The presence of sulfate groups resulted in low Young's modulus, high toughness and stretchability, proper energy dissipation, ultrafast self healing and complete healing efficiency of BASPU. In vitro studies showed higher endothelial cells attachment, higher anticoagulation ability and significantly less platelet adhesion for BASPUs compared to the commercial vascular prosthesis. The histological studies of subcutaneously implanted scaffolds confirmed their low fibrosis and gradual biodegradation during 2 months of following.