A Novel Trilayered Polymer Scaffold Mimicking Native Aortic Valve Leaflet

The most common surgical therapy for heart valve disease is heart valve replacement via mechanical or bioprosthetic valves. These valves succeed in restoring blood hemodynamics but fail in the repairing/remodeling aspect that is essential for the pediatric population. Tissue engineered heart valves (TEHV) aim to solve this issue by implanting a functional living tissue with the ability to grow and remodel with the heart. Current efforts in the fabrication of synthetic scaffolds for TE heart valves have been lacking in structural consideration, treating it as a uniform mass. In this study, we addressed the leaflet mechanical integrity and structural characteristics. By utilizing electrospinning, we have generated a three layered polymer scaffold mimicking the trilayered structure in the aortic valve: fibrosa, spongiosa, and ventricularis. (Figure 1)