Chinese Journal of Tissue Engineering Research ›› 2026, Vol. 30 ›› Issue (14): 3694-3701.doi: 10.12307/2026.106

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Different preparation methods of silk fibroin and its application in the construction of small-diameter tissue-engineered blood vessels

Yang Lei1, Liu Xinfang1, Luo Sidong1, Zhang Hongan1, Wang Yeyang1, Chen Weijian2   

  1. 1Guangdong Second People’s Hospital Affiliated to Jinan University, Guangzhou 510317, Guangdong Province, China; 2Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510700, Guangdong Province, China
  • Received:2025-04-22 Accepted:2025-06-06 Online:2026-05-18 Published:2025-09-12
  • Contact: Wang Yeyang, MD, Master’s supervisor, Guangdong Second People’s Hospital Affiliated to Jinan University, Guangzhou 510317, Guangdong Province, China Chen Weijian, MD, Doctoral supervisor, Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510700, Guangdong Province, China
  • About author:Yang Lei, MS, Guangdong Second People’s Hospital Affiliated to Jinan University, Guangzhou 510317, Guangdong Province, China
  • Supported by:
    Guangzhou Science and Technology Plan City-School Joint Project, No. 2023A03J0266 (to WYY); Guangzhou Science and Technology Plan Project, No. 202102020108 (to WYY); Special Fund Project of Guangdong Second People’s Hospital, No. TJGC-2023009 (to WYY)

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Silk fibroin materials have the advantages of excellent mechanical properties, biocompatibility, biodegradability and low immunogenicity, and are expected to show broad application prospects in small-diameter artificial blood vessels.
OBJECTIVE: To systematically review the application status and progress of silk fibroin in constructing small-diameter tissue engineering blood vessels.
METHODS: The Chinese and English search terms consisted of “silk fibroin, vascular scaffold, polycaprolactone, polyurethane, collagen, polylactic acid, small diameter, vascular tissue engineering.” The search was conducted in databases such as PubMed, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and WanFang for articles published from 2011 to 2025. Finally, 75 articles were included in the review.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Compared with other common biomaterials, such as polycaprolactone, polylactic acid, polyurethane, and collagen, silk fibroin has obvious advantages in mechanical properties, biocompatibility, degradability and immunogenicity, and the extraction procedure of the material is simple. The ideal silk fibroin vascular scaffold can be prepared by dip coating, gas foaming, freeze-drying, electrospinning, bioprinting and multiple combination techniques. It not only has the advantages of high efficiency, easy adjustment, low cost, safety and reliability, but also has the disadvantages of insufficient stability, high viscosity and low accuracy. The small-diameter silk fibroin vascular scaffold shows good anticoagulant, endothelialization and mechanical properties. However, silk fibroin still has some difficulties to overcome before clinical application, mainly in the following aspects: automated bioprinting to produce high-precision silk fibroin vascular tissue rarely enters clinical trials; its availability is affected by the seasonality and regionality of mulberry leaves; silk fibroin is difficult to maintain stability during long-term storage.

Key words: silk fibroin, small-diameter blood vessel, tissue engineering, antithrombosis, artificial blood vessel, vascular stent

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