MINORITY PREDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM

描述（由申请人提供）：细胞外基质（ECM）支架已成功用于超过300，000例人类患者的软组织和硬组织替代应用。ECM支架促进位点特异性组织重塑，并且在重塑过程中完全且快速降解。然而，ECM衍生的支架受到它们所来源的组织的固有机械和材料性质的限制。静电纺丝聚（酯-氨基甲酸酯）脲（PEUU）支架代表了一种替代的弹性材料，它重建了ECM的纤维超微结构。然而，PEUU支架缺乏ECM支架中固有的生物活性。所提出的研究的中心假设是，由溶解的ECM和PEUU组成的混合支架进入电纺材料将产生具有可预测物理性质的生物活性弹性体支架。提出了三个具体目的：（1）通过酶促降解溶解猪膀胱ECM;（2）电纺丝并表征膀胱ECM与PEUU的组合;和（3）表征在体内模型中植入后宿主组织对消化的ECM和聚合物-ECM支架的响应。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Extracellular matrix (ECM) scaffolds have been successfully used in more than 300,000 human patients in both soft and hard tissue replacement applications. ECM scaffolds promote site specific tissue remodeling and are completely and rapidly degraded during the remodelling process. However, ECM-derived scaffolds are limited by the inherent mechanical and material properties of the tissue from which they are derived. Electrospun poly(ester-urethane)urea (PEUU) scaffolds represent an alternative elastomeric material that recreates the fibrous ultrastructure of the ECM. However, PEUU scaffolds lack the bioactivity inherent in the ECM scaffolds. It is the central hypothesis of the proposed research that a hybrid scaffold composed of solubilized ECM and PEUU into electrospun material will result in a bioactive elastomeric scaffold with predictable physical properties. Three specific aims are proposed: (1) to solubilize a porcine urinary bladder ECM via enzymatic degradation; (2) to electrospin and characterize a combination of the urinary bladder ECM with PEUU; and (3) to characterize the host tissue response to both the digested ECM and the polymer-ECM scaffold after implantation in an in vivo model.