title: Coculture of endothelial and smooth muscle cells on a collagen membrane in the development of a small-diameter vascular graft.
abstract: In this study, we have evaluated the feasibility of developing a biodegradable collagenous small diameter vascular graft of 2mm diameter and 1cm length. In brief, bi-layer type I collagen membrane was fabricated under vacuum suction and lyophilization methods. The smooth muscle cells were inoculated into the lower side of the porous membrane, while endothelial cells were seeded onto upper smooth side of the membrane. After cultured for 7 days, the vascular substitute was either harvested for in vitro examination or in vivo implanted in the subcutaneous layer for biocompatibility test. The tubular vascular prosthesis was then used as a temporary absorbable guide that served as an in vivo vascular graft to promote the complete regeneration of rat inferior vena cava. After implantation for 12 weeks, a thin continuous layer of endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells were lined with the vascular lumen and tunic media, respectively. Histology results showed that there were no signs of significant thrombogeneity and intima hyperplasia. This tissue engineered vascular substitute not only had enough tensile strength and good biocompatibility, but also advanced vascular regeneration. In the future, we suggest that this biodegradable vascular substitute will provide with the possibility in application on small diameter prosthetic grafts in artificial blood vessels.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Engineering, College of Medicine and College of Engineering, National Taiwan University, #1, Sec. 1, Jen-Ai Road, Taipei 100, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hsi-Chin
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Tzu-Wei
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Pei-Leun
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Yang-Hwei
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Tsuang
authors.forename: Jui-Sheng
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Feng-Huei
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001807:Blood Vessel Prosthesis; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D018920:Coculture Techniques; D003094:Collagen; D003432:Cross-Linking Reagents; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D008422:Materials Testing; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D009131:Muscle, Smooth, Vascular / Q000166:cytology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D013499:Surface Properties; D023822:Tissue Engineering; D014682:Vena Cava, Inferior / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology / Q000601:surgery
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D003432:Cross-Linking Reagents; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D003094:Collagen