An overview of key electrospun synthetic nanofibers used for heart valve tissue engineering applications

MaterialSolutionFiber diameter (nm)Voltage (kV)Flow rate
(mL/h)
Needle-mandrel distances (cm)CellOutcomes
Poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate/polycaprolactone (PEGDA-PCL)Tetrahydrofuran and N,N-dimethylformamide (1:1)~700121 20Valve interstitial cells (VICs)

Tseng et al., 2014 [89]

  • The distribution of actin in VICs planted on anisotropic PCL was oriented toward the underlying fibers.

  • Anisotropy, laminability, and strength of the natural aortic valve (AV) are mimicked by a scaffold that combines the advantages of PCL and PEG.

Poly(ether ester urethane) urea (BPUR)1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-propanol (HFIP)500 ± 707.50.320VICs

Puperi et al., 2016 [90]

  • Cells aligned in the direction of the mechanical constraint showed substantial fibrotic remodeling in the constrained scaffolds.

  • The electrospun BPUR was adjusted to roughly match the natural valve’s maximum tangent modulus, extensibility, and anisotropy.

Polyurethane (PU)Chloroform and methanol (50:50)153 ± 4201100Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs)

Firoozi et al., 2017 [91]

  • Cells are temporarily supported by the scaffold before ECM is produced.

  • The final tensile stresses of the PU film and nanofibers were 4.79 MPa and 6.88 MPa, respectively. While the fibers had a higher Young’s modulus, the PU film was more flexible.

  • The findings showed that the unique nanofibrous valvular structure will adequately promote cell survival and attachment.

Poly(p-dioxanone) (PDO) and PEUUHFIP1,06811115HUVECs

Du et al., 2019 [92]

  • HUVECs demonstrated that PDO/PEUU composite nanofibrous mats promoted cell attachment and were compatible with cells, especially when the PDO/PEUU ratio was 60/40.

  • With a 5-fold greater initial elongation at break, the composite demonstrated noticeably better mechanical characteristics than the nanofibrous mat of clean PDO.

Poly(1,3-diamino-2-hydroxypropane-co-glycerol sebacate)-co-poly (ethylene glycol) (APS-co-PEG)/PCLEthanol and chloroform (1:9)1,246 ± 8117112Human valve interstitial cells (hVICs)

Xue et al., 2020 [93]

  • A ring-shaped collector inspired by a valve leaflet was developed to produce anisotropic fibrous scaffolds using synthetic polymer blends of PCL and APS-co-PEG.

  • As directed by the fiber alignment, hVICs grown on these anisotropic scaffolds showed aligned morphology.

Polylactic acidDimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and dichloromethane (DCM) 9:11,600181.515HUVECs

Wang et al., 2024 [94]

  • The mechanical test results indicate that the composite heart valve’s mechanical properties were significantly better than those of the pure decellularized heart valve. When the electrospinning time was longer than two hours, the tensile strength increased by 108% and the tensile strain increased by 571%.

PCLChloroform2,000–6,00010–140.7–1.210–12Porcine valve interstitial cells (PVICs)

Synder and Jana, 2023 [95]

  • Vimentin, collagen, transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-β1), and TGF-β3 gene expression were higher in the random and radial layers of the tri layer constructions than in the circumferential layer.

  • The PVICs demonstrated elevated expression of collagen, TGF-β1, TGF-β3, and vimentin in tri layer cell-cultured constructs.