Graduate Research and Discovery Symposium (GRADS)

Application of Elastomeric Polymers for Bladder Regeneration

Advisor

Jiro Nagatomi

Document Type

Poster

Department

Bioengineering

Publication Date

Spring 2013

Abstract

The urinary bladder is one of the few organs that has been successfully engineered and implanted in humans for a long-term clinical trial .However; scaffolds such as PGA-collagen used in the previous studies possess inadequate mechanical properties for organs that exhibit large deformation. The present study explored the use of biodegradable elastomers, poly-glycerol sebacate-polycaprolactone (PGS-PCl), poly (ether-urethane) urea (PEUU), and poly (carbonate-urethane) urea (PCUU) for urinary bladder tissue engineering since these materials have previously been shown to exhibit high extensibility and cytocompatibility. The present study compared mechanical properties of PGS-PCL, PEUU& PCUU elastomers. PGS-PCL, PEUU and wet PCUU specimens were subjected to uni-axial tensile loads under hydrated conditions (PBS at 37ºC) at a rate of 18mm/min until rupture using MTS synergie 100. The mechanical behaviors of these materials were analyzed by comparing the maximum tensions and stretch ratios at failure. The Mechanical characterization indicated that the PCUU may be more suitable for the bladder tissue engineering application than PEUU and PGS-PCL. Further studies, characterizing the stiffness of PCUU sutured rat bladders are currently underway using a custom-made in-vitro pressure-volume device.

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