title: Engineered small diameter vascular grafts by combining cell sheet engineering and electrospinning technology.
abstract: Tissue engineering offers an attractive approach to creating functional small-diameter (<5mm) blood vessels by combining autologous cells with a natural and/or synthetic scaffold under suitable culture conditions, which results in a tubular construct that can be implanted in vivo. We have previously developed a vascular scaffold fabricated by electrospinning poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) and type I collagen that mimics the structural and biomechanical properties of native vessels. In this study, we investigated whether a smooth muscle cell (SMC) sheet could be combined with the electrospun vascular scaffolds to produce a more mature smooth muscle layer as compared to the conventional cell seeding method. The pre-fabricated SMC sheet, wrapped around the vascular scaffold, provided high cell seeding efficiency (approx. 100%) and a mature smooth muscle layer that expressed strong cell-to-cell junction, connexin 43 (CX43), and contractile proteins, α smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and myosin light chain kinase (MLCK). Moreover, bioreactor-associated preconditioning of the SMC sheet-combined vascular scaffold maintained high cell viability (95.9 ± 2.7%) and phenotypes and improved cellular infiltration and mechanical properties (35.7% of tensile strength, 47.5% of elasticity, and 113.2% of elongation at break).
authors: Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA.
authors: Hyunhee
authors: H
authors: Ahn
authors: Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA.
authors: Young Min
authors: YM
authors: Ju
authors: Institute of Advanced Biomedical Engineering and Science, Tokyo Women's Medical University, 8-1 Kawada-cho, Shinjuku, Tokyo 162-8666, Japan.
authors: Hironobu
authors: H
authors: Takahashi
authors: Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA.
authors: David F
authors: DF
authors: Williams
authors: Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA.
authors: James J
authors: JJ
authors: Yoo
authors: Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA. Electronic address: sjlee@wakehealth.edu.
authors: Sang Jin
authors: SJ
authors: Lee
authors: Institute of Advanced Biomedical Engineering and Science, Tokyo Women's Medical University, 8-1 Kawada-cho, Shinjuku, Tokyo 162-8666, Japan. Electronic address: okano.teruo@twmu.ac.jp.
authors: Teruo
authors: T
authors: Okano
authors: Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA.
authors: Anthony
authors: A
authors: Atala
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D019149:Bioreactors; D001807:Blood Vessel Prosthesis; D002417:Cattle; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D003094:Collagen / Q000494:pharmacology; D009131:Muscle, Smooth, Vascular / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects; D010477:Perfusion; D010641:Phenotype; D011091:Polyesters / Q000494:pharmacology; D012756:Sheep; D013718:Tensile Strength / Q000187:drug effects; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D011091:Polyesters; C016240:polycaprolactone; D003094:Collagen
keywords: Cell sheet engineering; Electrospinning; Smooth muscle cells; Vascular tissue engineering