Small-Diameter Blood Vessel Tissue Engineering
Poster Number
005
College
College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Biology
Faculty Mentor
Matthew Stern, Ph.D.
Abstract
Approximately 600,000 damaged blood vessels are replaced annually, and while there are effective methods for large-diameter blood vessel repair, the current methods for small-diameter blood vessel replacement are less effective. Thus, there is a need for new methods of small-diameter blood vessel replacement. Blood vessel tissue engineering involves creating a functional blood vessel in vitro that can later be implanted into a patient. For this project, decellularized porcine internal thoracic arteries (PITA) are used as the scaffolds due to their similarity to human thoracic arteries. We used scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to characterize the ultrastructure of both the outer and luminal surfaces of each scaffold. In addition, two cell types crucial to vessel function, 1) smooth muscle cells and 2) endothelial cells, were isolated from PITA and independently cultured to identify optimal conditions for expansion prior to seeding the cells into scaffolds. For each cell type, we compared growth in two different culture media and on several different extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins/components. The AlamarBlue assay was used as an indirect measure of cell viability and numbers. Our results suggest that both cell types experienced higher rates of proliferation in one of the media types tested. In addition, smooth muscle cells showed increased growth on a collagen-coated substrate. Future experiments will focus on seeding cultured smooth muscle and endothelial cells into decellularized PITA scaffolds in the hopes that they will successfully repopulate the scaffolds and confer the functionality needed to later implant the engineered vessels into living organisms.
Grant Support?
Supported by a grant from the South Carolina EPSCoR/IDeA Stimulus Research Program
Start Date
12-4-2019 12:00 PM
End Date
April 2019
Small-Diameter Blood Vessel Tissue Engineering
Rutledge Building
Approximately 600,000 damaged blood vessels are replaced annually, and while there are effective methods for large-diameter blood vessel repair, the current methods for small-diameter blood vessel replacement are less effective. Thus, there is a need for new methods of small-diameter blood vessel replacement. Blood vessel tissue engineering involves creating a functional blood vessel in vitro that can later be implanted into a patient. For this project, decellularized porcine internal thoracic arteries (PITA) are used as the scaffolds due to their similarity to human thoracic arteries. We used scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to characterize the ultrastructure of both the outer and luminal surfaces of each scaffold. In addition, two cell types crucial to vessel function, 1) smooth muscle cells and 2) endothelial cells, were isolated from PITA and independently cultured to identify optimal conditions for expansion prior to seeding the cells into scaffolds. For each cell type, we compared growth in two different culture media and on several different extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins/components. The AlamarBlue assay was used as an indirect measure of cell viability and numbers. Our results suggest that both cell types experienced higher rates of proliferation in one of the media types tested. In addition, smooth muscle cells showed increased growth on a collagen-coated substrate. Future experiments will focus on seeding cultured smooth muscle and endothelial cells into decellularized PITA scaffolds in the hopes that they will successfully repopulate the scaffolds and confer the functionality needed to later implant the engineered vessels into living organisms.
