In Vivo Remodeling of Fibroblast-Derived Vascular Scaffolds Implanted for 6 Months in Rats

Figure 6

Mechanical properties of FDVS tested immediately following decellularization (0 months) and after 3 months of sterile storage at 4°C in PBS supplemented with 10% FCS. For each condition, three long vessels were each cut into three segments that were tested in triplicate, bringing the total number of rings tested per condition to 27. The average length of vessels before cutting was 16.9 cm. The UTS (a), thickness (b), inner diameter (c), ultimate strain (d), estimated BP (e), elastic modulus (f), and suture retention strength (g) did not show any significant difference over time. Masson’s trichrome staining of histological cross-sections (h) showed that the structure of the collagen-rich FDVS remained similar after three months of storage. Results are expressed as mean ± SD; . Scale bars: 100 μm. NS: not significant.

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