Heparin and adipose stem cell exosome functionalization improves performance of SIS/PLCL small-diameter vascular grafts.

Authors

Yujia Zhao, Bo Li, Shengxin Zhai, Yuxuan Zhong, Lu Cui, Fanglin Wang, Hao Tong, Xiang Li, Jun Fan

Published in

Journal of advanced research. Aug 13, 2026. Epub Aug 13, 2026.

Abstract

The development of small-diameter vascular grafts remains clinically challenging. Decellularized small intestinal submucosa (SIS) is a promising candidate biomaterial for vascular grafts owing to the satisfactory biocompatibility and low immunogenicity. Nevertheless, its efficacy remains limited, primarily by thrombosis or dilation-induced failure.
This study presents a novel SIS / Poly (L-Lactide-co-caprolactone) (PLCL) composite graft co-functionalized with heparin and human adipose-derived stem cell exosomes (HASCs-Exo) , aiming to meet the standards of blood vessel replacement.
In this study, we fabricated SIS/PLCL hierarchical fibrous grafts via electrospinning, followed by a dual-functionalization strategy to load heparin and HASCs-Exo. The grafts were then evaluated in vitro and in vivo.
Comprehensive in vitro characterization revealed that the composite graft possessed optimal surface topography, enhanced tensile strength, sustained in situ release of HASCs-Exo, and favorable hemocompatibility. In a rat subcutaneous implantation model, the HASCs-Exo-modified SIS/PLCL grafts exhibited significantly improved biocompatibility, as evidenced by reduced inflammatory cell infiltration compared to unmodified SIS/PLCL grafts. In rabbit carotid artery replacement experiments, HASCs-Exo-modified SIS/PLCL grafts demonstrated superior performance, evidenced by a higher patency rate on Doppler ultrasound and enhanced endothelialization confirmed by CD31 and eNOS immunofluorescent staining. Mass spectrometry and Western blot showed that ATP2B1 was enriched in HASCs-Exo. Mechanistic studies further demonstrated that HASCs-Exo promoted endothelial cell functionality by upregulating eNOS and VEGF through ATP2B1.
This study presents a novel strategy that combinines HASCs-Exo with SIS/PLCL grafts to fabricate functional small-diameter vascular grafts, achieving dual optimization of mechanical integrity and endothelialization capacity.

PMID:
42595106
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 14 Aug 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.