Fig. 2.

Implantation into the abdominal aorta, changes in the mechanical characteristics and morphology of the electrospun graft. Macroscopic pictures of the graft at 1, 3 and 9 months after transplantation (A). The red arrow indicated the anastomotic location of vascular graft. The appearance of the graft at 9 months after treatment with physiological saline solution (B). Gross view of the cross-sections of explanted PCL/fibrin grafts after 1, 3 and 9 months (C). (D), Compliance values of PCL/fibrin and PCL vascular grafts after 1, 3, and 9 months (n = 3). The mechanical properties of the vascular graft (n = 3) indicated the breaking strain (E), elastic modulus (F) and maximum stress (G). Changes of PCL/fibrin vascular grafts at different time periods were observed with SEM (H) and the percentage of weight retention of different grafts were measured at 1, 3 and 9 months respectively (I) (n = 3). Scale bar: (C) 1 mm. *indicated P < 0.05. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)