Alternative methods in cardiovascular tissue engineering

© 2008 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. The current review will address alternative methods for the tissue engineering of blood vessels and heart valves. This is in contrast with most current reports on cardiovascular tissue engineering (CVTE), which are generally limited to one specific paradigm or certain aspects thereof. The paradigm in question described the creating of autologous tissue, by in vitro seeding of mainly synthetic scaffolds followed by a phase of in vitro maturation, finally resulting in an implantable construct suitable for only one specific patient. Although this approach is very promising it has suffered from several draw-backs, such as costs, instigating several groups to search for alternative approaches. Mainly aiming at the creation if living tissue by in vivo approaches and thereby reducing the costs and risks associated to the ex vivo treatment of cells, these approaches have already proven the ability to create living blood vessels and blood vessels by exploiting and guiding naturally occurring processes, such as foreign body reaction and wound healing. The techniques to obtain such living prostheses can be based on intraperitoneal implantation and seeding, as was shown by the group of Campbell for blood vessels [1] and by our group for heart valves [2]. In both cases the methods have been developed and evaluated in vivo. A second alternative are the smart matrices. These scaffolds are designed to enhance in situ recellularisation [3,4] but have some implications in the in vitro tissue engineering as well.

ISBN:978-1-60456-293-4

Jaar van publicatie:2008