2.5. Graft Implantation

Anesthesia and implantation procedures followed an earlier described protocol [27]. Briefly, we used 18 Wistar rats with an average age of 6.8 ± 0.15 months and average bodyweight of 440 ± 40 g. The animals were kept under stationary vivarium conditions with natural illumination, standard diet, and water ad libitum. The 18 e-PTFE grafts without coating (inner diameter = 1.8 mm, 120 µm wall thickness; Ekoflon, Russia) were used as a control group. Implantation of experimental and control SDVG was done simultaneously in the same experimental set, while animals were randomized between groups. The electrospun grafts (outer layer from 3.5% Pel-80A + 10% Gel + 1.5% and inner layer from 3.5% Pel-80A + 10% Gel + 1.5% Bv (thickness of 10–20 µm)) of length 10 ± 2 mm were implanted to the infrarenal aorta of six animals and studied after the observation period (1 week, 3 and 6 months).