title: Substrates for cardiovascular tissue engineering.
abstract: Cardiovascular tissue engineering aims to find solutions for the suboptimal regeneration of heart valves, arteries and myocardium by creating 'living' tissue replacements outside (in vitro) or inside (in situ) the human body. A combination of cells, biomaterials and environmental cues of tissue development is employed to obtain tissues with targeted structure and functional properties that can survive and develop within the harsh hemodynamic environment of the cardiovascular system. This paper reviews the up-to-date status of cardiovascular tissue engineering with special emphasis on the development and use of biomaterial substrates. Key requirements and properties of these substrates, as well as methods and readout parameters to test their efficacy in the human body, are described in detail and discussed in the light of current trends toward designing biologically inspired microenviroments for in situ tissue engineering purposes.
authors.affiliation: Soft Tissue Biomechanics and Tissue Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands. c.v.c.bouten@tue.nl
authors.forename: C V C
authors.initials: CV
authors.lastname: Bouten
authors.forename: P Y W
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Dankers
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Driessen-Mol
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pedron
authors.forename: A M A
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Brizard
authors.forename: F P T
authors.initials: FP
authors.lastname: Baaijens
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D013504:Cardiovascular Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D006351:Heart Valves / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology; D012038:Regeneration; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials