A novel pulsatile, laminar flow bioreactor for the development of tissue-engineered vascular structures.
Exposure of vascular cell-seeded, tubular, biodegradable polymers to pulsatile flow conditions has been proposed as a method to develop tissue-engineered blood vessels by "maturing" structural integrity, and increasing collagen content, suture retention, burst pressure, and tissue formation. These in vitro tissue-engineered arteries demonstrate contractile responses to pharmacologic agents and express markers of vascular differentiation. Current methods to induce pulsatile flow in a bioreactor system are limited by the creation of nonphysiologic pressure waveforms and noncompliant reservoirs to house the tissue-engineered vascular constructs. We have developed a novel method for the in vitro development of tubular vascular structures by using a mechanical ventilator to induce pulsatile, laminar flow into a fluid column, resulting in pressurized waveforms similar to mammalian physiology. The vascular constructs are housed in semicompliant tubing to facilitate an additional variable of circumferential stretch as a potential signaling mechanism. This approach more closely approximates mammalian physiology and we hypothesize that it will facilitate mechanical signaling necessary for the development of tissue-engineered vessels for clinical applications.
Thompson
Craig A
CA
Cardiac Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. cathompson@partners.org
Colon-Hernandez
Pedro
P
Pomerantseva
Irina
I
MacNeil
Brian D
BD
Nasseri
Boris
B
Vacanti
Joseph P
JP
Oesterle
Stephen N
SN
D019149:Bioreactors; D001808:Blood Vessels; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D032389:Myocytes, Smooth Muscle / Q000502:physiology; D011100:Polyglycolic Acid; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000295:instrumentation*
D011100:Polyglycolic Acid