Piezoelectric Composite Nanofibers Promote Endothelial Cell Proliferation and Alignment Toward Rapid Endothelialization

ABSTRACT Piezoelectric materials can generate electrical signals under mechanical deformation, which have been widely used in vascular tissue engineering to regulate cellular behaviors. However, the performance of existing piezoelectric materials still cannot meet the requirements for rapid endothelialization. Herein, we prepared composited nanofibers with high piezoelectric voltage response and suitable mechanical properties for promoting proliferation and oriented growth of endothelial cells. First, the surface of eggshell membrane (ESM) was uniformly coated with polyethylene oxide @ polyaniline (PEO@PANI) via spin‐coating. Subsequently, polylactic acid @ barium titanate (PLA@BT) oriented nanofibers were deposited on the ESM‐PEO@PANI membrane by electrospinning. The presence of PEO improved the interfacial adhesion between PLA@BT nanofibers and the underlying ESM layer, while their piezoelectric conductivity was conduced by PANI with high conductivity. After plasma treatment, ESM‐PEO@PANI‐PLA@BT fibers exhibited superydrophilicity. XRD analysis revealed that the phase content of PLA in ESM‐PEO@PANI‐(O)PLA@30% BT oriented nanofibers reached 45.06%, while FTIR analysis showed a comparable β phase content of 44.23%. The orientation of the nanofibers also enhanced their elastic ultimate strength (up to 2.60 MPa) and Young's modulus (up to 3.55 MPa), providing sufficient mechanical performance to withstand physiological blood pressure. Notably, no structural damage was observed after 50 cycles of cyclic stretching at 0 ~ 40% strain, indicating excellent fatigue resistance. In addition, ESM‐PEO@PANI‐(O)PLA@20% BT composite nanofibers achieved a peak output voltage of 0.706 V‐an increase of 472.5% compared to random (R)PLA nanofibers. Its corresponding open‐circuit current reached 0.296 μA, and piezoelectric sensitivity was 72.27 mV/N. Furthermore, human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) cultured on ESM‐PEO@PANI‐(O)PLA@20% BT composite nanofibers showed good cell compatibility, with a 21.7% increase in optical density (OD) value, and exhibited pronounced oriented growth. Under low intensity acoustic stimulation (0.1 W/cm 2 ), the HUVECs proliferation rate increased by 257.29%. In conclusion, ESM‐PEO@PANI‐(O)PLA@20% BT composite nanofibers with high piezoelectric response significantly promoted HUVECs proliferation and alignment, which benefit for rapid endothelialization, and hold great potential in small‐diameter in situ vascular tissue engineering.