Engineering vascularised tissues in vitro

In situ vascularization of injectable fibrin/poly(ethylene glycol) hydrogels by human amniotic fluid‐derived stem cells

“…[4][5][6] Methods of ensuring perfusion in engineered tissues range from stimulating angiogenesis through the introduction of growth factors or biological materials that promote invasion of endogenous host capillaries, [7][8][9] to pre-forming vascular networks within scaffolds in vitro prior to implantation. [10][11][12] Relying solely on spontaneous or chemotaxis-driven angiogenesis, which vary from tenths of a micron per day to several microns per hour, [13,14] is generally not sufficient to achieve rapid and complete vascularization of thick constructs. [3,7,8] Alternatively, prevascularizing engineered tissues with exogenous cells provides well-formed vascular-like networks prior to implantation.…”

“…[3,7,8] Alternatively, prevascularizing engineered tissues with exogenous cells provides well-formed vascular-like networks prior to implantation. [10,12,15] While some studies have shown that seeding endothelial cells into tissue constructs before implantation may improve in vivo perfusion and cell viability, [1,16,17] others have shown no difference between the rate of in vivo blood vessel formation in hydrogels pre-vascularized with endothelial cells in vitro compared to mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-seeded hydrogels relying on in situ vascularization alone. [18] Studies have also shown that combining both endothelial cells and a perivascular cell source, such as MSCs or fibroblasts, is essential in the generation of robust functional vascular networks in vivo.…”

Generation and Use of Cultured Human Primary Myotubes

“…Functional testing of these constructs revealed the myotendinous junction could withstand tensile forces beyond the physiological range (Larkin et al, 2006). Rivron et al, (2008) further review recent advances in the ability to generate pre-vascularised tissue constructs in vitro which has the capacity to readily anastamose to the host vasculature and thus can enhance viability of implanted tissue constructs. These advances within the tissue engineering field represent promising progress in the development of functional muscles for regenerative purposes.…”

Whole-organ engineering with natural extracellular materials

“…As host-vessel ingrowth requires a finite time to penetrate into the depth of the implanted tissue, necrosis can occur prior to sufficient vascularization, resulting in implant failure. Many studies have explored means to facilitate bioengineered angiogenesis [106,107] and ongoing in vitro attempts to prevascularize engineered tissue may have a future in in vivo applications [104,[108][109][110]. Notably, one study has already demonstrated evidence of angiogenesis in vivo attributed to multi-cell type co-culture [111].…”