The results suggest that the culture process of ovine tissues can be controlled, whereas the mechanical properties, and hence functionality, of tissues originating from human material are more difficult to control. On-line evaluation of tissue properties during culture or more early cellular markers to predict the properties of autologous tissues cultured for individual patients are, therefore, of utmost importance for future clinical application of autologous heart valve tissue engineering. As an example, this study shows that α-smooth muscle actin might be an indicator of tissue mechanical properties.

Synthetic polymers are widely used to fabricate porous scaffolds for the regeneration of cardiovascular tissues. To ensure mechanical integrity, a balance between the rate of scaffold absorption and tissue formation is of high importance. A higher rate of tissue formation is expected in fast-degrading materials than in slow-degrading materials. This could be a result of synthetic cells, which aim to compensate for the fast loss of mechanical integrity of the scaffold by deposition of collagen fibers. Here, we studied the effect of fast-degrading polyglycolic acid scaffolds coated with poly-4-hydroxybutyrate (PGA-P4HB) and slow-degrading poly-ɛ-caprolactone (PCL) scaffolds on amount of tissue, composition, and mechanical characteristics in time, and compared these engineered values with values for native human heart valves. Electrospun PGA-P4HB and PCL scaffolds were either kept unseeded in culture or were seeded with human vascular-derived cells. Tissue formation, extracellular matrix (ECM) composition, remaining scaffold weight, tissue-to-scaffold weight ratio, and mechanical properties were analyzed every week up to 6 weeks. Mass of unseeded PCL scaffolds remained stable during culture, whereas PGA-P4HB scaffolds degraded rapidly. When seeded with cells, both scaffold types demonstrated increasing amounts of tissue with time, which was more pronounced for PGA-P4HB-based tissues during the first 2 weeks; however, PCL-based tissues resulted in the highest amount of tissue after 6 weeks. This study is the first to provide insight into the tissue-to-scaffold weight ratio, therewith allowing for a fair comparison between engineered tissues cultured on scaffolds as well as between native heart valve tissues. Although the absolute amount of ECM components differed between the engineered tissues, the ratio between ECM components was similar after 6 weeks. PCL-based tissues maintained their shape, whereas the PGA-P4HB-based tissues deformed during culture. After 6 weeks, PCL-based engineered tissues showed amounts of cells and ECM that were comparable to the number of human native heart valve leaflets, whereas values were lower in the PGA-P4HB-based tissues. Although increasing in time, the number of collagen crosslinks were below native values in all engineered tissues. In conclusion, this study indicates that slow-degrading scaffold materials are favored over fast-degrading materials to create organized ECM-rich tissues in vitro, which keep their three-dimensional structure before implantation.

For clinical application of tissue engineering strategies, the use of animal-derived serum in culture medium is not recommended, because it can evoke immune responses in patients. We previously observed that human platelet-lysate (PL) is favourable for cell expansion, but generates weaker tissue as compared to culture in foetal bovine serum (FBS). We investigated if human serum (HS) is a better human supplement to increase tissue strength. Cells were isolated from venous grafts of 10 patients and expanded in media supplemented with PL or HS, to determine proliferation rates and expression of genes related to collagen production and maturation. Zymography was used to assess protease expression. Collagen contraction assays were used as a two-dimensional (2D) model for matrix contraction. As a prove of principle, 3D tissue culture and tensile testing was performed for two patients, to determine tissue strength. Cell proliferation was lower in HS-supplemented medium than in PL medium. The HS cells produced less active matrix metallo-proteinase 2 (MMP2) and showed increased matrix contraction as indicated by gel contraction assays and 3D-tissue culture. Tensile testing showed increased strength for tissues cultured in HS when compared to PL. This effect was more pronounced if cells were sequentially cultured in PL, followed by tissue culture in HS. These data suggest that sequential use of PL and HS as substitutes for FBS in culture medium for cardiovascular tissue engineering results in improved cell proliferation and tissue mechanical properties, as compared to use of PL or HS apart.