Design of a new pulsatile bioreactor for tissue engineered aortic heart valve formation.
Evidence has been gathered that biomechanical factors have a significant impact on cell differentiation and behavior in in vitro cell cultures. The aim of this bioreactor is to create a physiological environment in which tissue engineered (TE) aortic valves seeded with human cells can be cultivated during a period of several days. The bioreactor consists of 2 major parts: the left ventricle (LV) and the afterload consisting of a compliance, representing the elastic function of the large arteries, and in series a resistance, mimicking the arterioles and capillaries. The TE aortic valve is placed between the LV and the compliance. With controllable resistance, compliance, stroke volume and frequency, and hydrodynamic conditions can be changed over a wide physiological range. This study resulted in a prototype of a compact pulsatile flow system for the creation of TE aortic valves. In addition a biocompatibility study of the used materials is performed.
IBiTech, Institute of Biomedical Technology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium. kris.dumont@fug.ac.be
Kris
K
Dumont
Jessa
J
Yperman
Erik
E
Verbeken
Patrick
P
Segers
Bart
B
Meuris
Stijn
S
Vandenberghe
Willem
W
Flameng
Pascal R
PR
Verdonck
D001021:Aortic Valve; D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001705:Bioprosthesis; D019149:Bioreactors; D002460:Cell Line; D004867:Equipment Design; D006350:Heart Valve Prosthesis; D011673:Pulsatile Flow; D023822:Tissue Engineering
D001672:Biocompatible Materials