title: Animal models for vascular tissue-engineering.
abstract: Because of rise in cardiovascular disease throughout the world, there is increasing demand for small diameter blood vessels as replacement grafts. The present review focuses on the animal models that have been used to test small-diameter TEVs with emphasis on the attributes of each model. Small animal models are used to test short-term patency and address mechanistic hypotheses; and large, preclinical animal models are employed to test long-term patency, remodeling and function in an environment mimicking human physiology. We also discuss recent clinical trials that employed laboratory fabricated TEVs and showed very promising results. Ultimately, animal models provide a testing platform for optimizing vascular grafts before clinical use in patients without suitable autologous vessels.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Amherst, NY 14260-4200, United States; Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences, Buffalo, NY 14203, United States. Electronic address: swartzda@buffalo.edu.
authors.forename: Daniel D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Swartz
authors.forename: Stelios T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Andreadis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001807:Blood Vessel Prosthesis; D001808:Blood Vessels / Q000166:cytology / Q000637:transplantation*; D049628:Body Size; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D023421:Models, Animal; D023822:Tissue Engineering; D014654:Vascular Patency