Abstract 15960: Engineered Vascular Construct via the Ring Stacking Method

Abstract

Introduction: Treatments for arteriosclerosis such as bypass surgery use vessel grafts that can cause infections in patients, with more than 50% of these grafts failing within 10 years. Discovering different methods to create vascular replacements in vitro has become one of the major focuses of tissue engineering. Material and Methods: Utilizing a novel approach termed the “Ring Stacking Method” we will create tissue resembling that of a blood vessel. With the aid of a 3D-printed PLA tubular scaffold placed in the center of a 35mm plate, we are able to create two cell ring layers. The ring layers are composed of smooth muscle cells and fibroblasts seeded onto fibrin gel, composed of 40μL of 100U/mL thrombin and 160μL of 20mg/mL fibrinogen, which have rolled towards the PLA scaffold. Results and Discussion: To evaluate our proposed technique of the Ring Stacking Method, we began by attempting to fabricate the smooth muscle layer. We used a human aortic smooth muscle cell line for relevance to cardiac bypass surgery application. The contractile properties of smooth muscle cells make them an ideal candidate for our ring formation methods. The SMC rings were subsequently stacked on top of one another using a plastic tube as an internal guide to keep the ring stack initially in place ( Fig. 1A ). The tubular SMC construct contained six ring segments and was about 10 mm in length ( Fig. 1B ). Remarkably, the lumen of the preliminary vascular construct had the ability to hold itself open, displaying structural integrity ( Fig. 1C , white arrow). Conclusion: Creation of engineered vascular replacements could eventually lead to decreased dependence on auto-graft harvesting from other parts of the body. Replacement vessels have potential to integrate into the pre-existing native tissue and promote healing and reestablishment of function of the region. The vascular construct could be applied to other ischemia disease and tissue engineering problems.