Successful development of small diameter tissue-engineering vascular vessels by our novel integrally designed pulsatile perfusion-based bioreactor

PLoS One. 2012;7(8):e42569. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0042569. Epub 2012 Aug 3.

Abstract

Small-diameter (<4 mm) vascular constructs are urgently needed for patients requiring replacement of their peripheral vessels. However, successful development of constructs remains a significant challenge. In this study, we successfully developed small-diameter vascular constructs with high patency using our integrally designed computer-controlled bioreactor system. This computer-controlled bioreactor system can confer physiological mechanical stimuli and fluid flow similar to physiological stimuli to the cultured grafts. The medium circulating system optimizes the culture conditions by maintaining fixed concentration of O(2) and CO(2) in the medium flow and constant delivery of nutrients and waste metabolites, as well as eliminates the complicated replacement of culture medium in traditional vascular tissue engineering. Biochemical and mechanical assay of newly developed grafts confirm the feasibility of the bioreactor system for small-diameter vascular engineering. Furthermore, the computer-controlled bioreactor is superior for cultured cell proliferation compared with the traditional non-computer-controlled bioreactor. Specifically, our novel bioreactor system may be a potential alternative for tissue engineering of large-scale small-diameter vascular vessels for clinical use.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Biomechanical Phenomena
  • Bioreactors*
  • Blood Vessels / cytology
  • Blood Vessels / physiology*
  • Blood Vessels / ultrastructure
  • Cell Survival
  • Collagen / genetics
  • Collagen / metabolism
  • Endothelin-1 / metabolism
  • Epoprostenol / metabolism
  • Gene Expression Regulation
  • Nitric Oxide / metabolism
  • Phenotype
  • Pressure
  • Pulsatile Flow*
  • Rabbits
  • Rats
  • Time Factors
  • Tissue Culture Techniques
  • Tissue Engineering / instrumentation*
  • Tissue Engineering / methods*
  • Tissue Scaffolds

Substances

  • Endothelin-1
  • Nitric Oxide
  • Collagen
  • Epoprostenol

Grants and funding

This work is supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program (863) (No. 2006AA02Z4E3) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81027005). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.