High-performance Polyimide Cuff Tube with Tunable Mechanics and Long-term Biocompatibility for Microvascular Anastomosis

Hui Su; Zhou-Quan Sun; Yu-Cheng Qiu; Yuan-Yuan Zhang; Jing Luo; Fei Liu; Jun Yang; Xian-Yu Zhou; Yue Zhang; Yu-Mei Zhang

doi:10.1007/s10118-026-3661-2

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High-performance Polyimide Cuff Tube with Tunable Mechanics and Long-term Biocompatibility for Microvascular Anastomosis

RESEARCH ARTICLE | Updated：2026-05-30

- High-performance Polyimide Cuff Tube with Tunable Mechanics and Long-term Biocompatibility for Microvascular Anastomosis
- High-performance Polyimide Cuff Tube with Tunable Mechanics and Long-term Biocompatibility for Microvascular Anastomosis
- Chinese Journal of Polymer Science 2026年44卷第6期页码：1898-1911
- Affiliations：
  
  a.State Key Laboratory of Advanced Fiber Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China
  b.Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200011, China
- Author bio：
  
  zhangyue@dhu.edu.cn (Y.Z.)
  zhangym@dhu.edu.cn (Y.M.Z.)
- Funds：
  
  This work was financially supported by the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (No. 22S31904500), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 82102354), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Nos. 2232025A-02 and CUSF-DH-D-2025006).;The authors declare no interest conflict.Electronic supplementary information (ESI) is available free of charge in the online version of this article at http://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-026-3661-2.The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
- DOI：10.1007/s10118-026-3661-2
  中图分类号：
- 收稿：2025-12-01，
  
  修回：2026-02-09，
  
  录用：2026-03-11，
  
  网络首发：2026-05-27，
  
  纸质出版：2026-06-05
- Accepted：
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Su, H.; Sun, Z. Q.; Qiu, Y. C.; Zhang, Y. Y.; Luo, J.; Liu, F.; Yang, J.; Zhou, X. Y.; Zhang, Y.; Zhang, Y. M. High-performance polyimide cuff tube with tunable mechanics and long-term biocompatibility for microvascular anastomosis. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2026, 44, 1898–1911

Hui Su, Zhou-Quan Sun, Yu-Cheng Qiu, et al. High-performance Polyimide Cuff Tube with Tunable Mechanics and Long-term Biocompatibility for Microvascular Anastomosis[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 44(6): 1898-1911.
Su, H.; Sun, Z. Q.; Qiu, Y. C.; Zhang, Y. Y.; Luo, J.; Liu, F.; Yang, J.; Zhou, X. Y.; Zhang, Y.; Zhang, Y. M. High-performance polyimide cuff tube with tunable mechanics and long-term biocompatibility for microvascular anastomosis. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2026, 44, 1898–1911 DOI： 10.1007/s10118-026-3661-2.

Hui Su, Zhou-Quan Sun, Yu-Cheng Qiu, et al. High-performance Polyimide Cuff Tube with Tunable Mechanics and Long-term Biocompatibility for Microvascular Anastomosis[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 44(6): 1898-1911. DOI： 10.1007/s10118-026-3661-2.

摘要

P84 polyimide cuff tubes fabricated

via

dry-jet wet-spinning exhibit enhanced mechanical properties after heat treatment and 90-day

in vivo

vascular patency and biosafety.

Abstract

Microvascular anastomosis is a fundamental technique in microsurgery

and the development of suitable cuff tubes is crucial for improving the surgical efficiency and long-term vascular patency. Polyimide

a high-performance polymer

offers excellent thermal stability

chemical resistance

and biocompatibility

making it a promising candidate for microvascular applications. In this study

we employed a dry-jet wet-spinning method using P84 polyimide to fabricate polyimide (PI) cuff tubes. The effects of bore fluid flowrate

dope flowrate

and take-up speed on the structural morphology and mechanical properties of the tubes were systematically investigated. Heat treatment was applied to optimize the mechanical performance. Heat treatment above the glass transition temperature significantly enhances the solvent resistance and mechanical strength without altering the chemical structure. The PI cuff tubes demonstrated negligible cytotoxicity and hemolysis

no genotoxic or immunogenic effects

and no systemic organ toxicity.

In vivo

mplantation showed sustained vascular patency and no local inflammatory response for up to 90 days post-operatively. The fabricated PI cuff tubes possessed high structural integrity

tunable flexibility

ideal mechanical properties

excellent biosafety

and outstanding

in vivo

performance

suggesting their strong potential for future clinical translation in microvascular anastomosis and vascular graft applications.

关键词

Keywords

references

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