Electrospun membranes of carboxylated poly(ester urethane)urea/gelatin encapsulating pterostilbene for adaptive and antioxidative purposes

Abstract

Oxidative stress caused by the harsh microenvironment after implantation of an artificial graft with mismatching mechanical properties usually triggers inflammation responses, which have adverse impacts on tissue regeneration. For coping with these problems, in this work, bioactive fibrous scaffolds were developed from specially synthesized carboxylated poly(ester urethane)urea (PEUU) and gelatin (Gel) by encapsulating pterostilbene (Pte) for the first time. The prepared electrospun membranes exhibited self-adaptable mechanical properties with high elasticity owing to the bonded electrospun fibers, cross-linking network between PEUU and Gel, and the inherent flexibility of the PEUU polymer in the fibrous matrix. The PEUU/Gel/Pte electrospun membrane containing 7% Pte could promote in vitro proliferation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells, and regulate vascular smooth muscle cells with excellent antioxidant properties via free radical scavenging. In vivo results in a rat subcutaneous implantation model further demonstrated the positive effect of the specially prepared PEUU/Gel/Pte scaffold on both normal cell growth and anti-inflammatory by promoting cellularization and polarizing macrophages toward the M2 phenotype. These PEUU/Gel/Pte electrospun membranes with adaptability benefit to tissue regeneration by modulating inflammation responses, especially applications in vascular regeneration.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Electrospun membranes
• carboxylated poly(ester urethane)urea
• pterostilbene
• mechanical properties
• antioxidant capacity

Authors’ contributions

Leilei Zang: Data curation, methodology, formal analysis, writing – original draft. Quhan Cheng: Data curation, writing – original draft. Shan Bai: Conceptualization, formal analysis. Kai Wang: Methodology, writing – review & editing. Xiaoyan Yuan: Conceptualization, supervision, project administration, funding acquisition, writing – review & editing.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52073204).