Knitting for heart valve tissue engineering

Abstract

Knitting is a versatile technology which offers a large portfolio of products and solutions of interest in heart valve (HV) tissue engineering (TE). One of the main advantages of knitting is its ability to construct complex shapes and structures by precisely assembling the yarns in the desired position. With this in mind, knitting could be employed to construct a HV scaffold that closely resembles the authentic valve. This has the potential to reproduce the anisotropic structure that is characteristic of the heart valve with the yarns, in particular the 3-layered architecture of the leaflets. These yarns can provide oriented growth of cells lengthwise and consequently enable the deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins in an oriented manner. This technique, therefore, has a potential to provide a functional knitted scaffold, but to achieve that textile engineers need to gain a basic understanding of structural and mechanical aspects of the heart valve and in addition, tissue engineers must acquire the knowledge of tools and capacities that are essential in knitting technology. The aim of this review is to provide a platform to consolidate these two fields as well as to enable an efficient communication and cooperation among these two research areas.

The determinant role of fabrication technique in final characteristics of scaffolds for tissue engineering applications: A focus on silk fibroin-based scaffolds

“…For the rest of this article, the knit scaffold represents a plain weft knit scaffold. The big advantage of weft knitting is high extensibility (stretchability) which is achieved from the loop structure, no matter if the yarn itself has no stretchability [32]. SF weft knit scaffolds have also been employed in TE and regenerative medicine applications [33], [34], because of their key role in providing scaffold functionality (mostly mechanical properties).…”

Forming effective relationships between academia and the medical devices industry with a focus on launching a smart heart valve prosthesis for pediatric patients

“…The concept was described in multiple scientific reports [2] and successes in the animal model were widely discussed [8][9][10]. Our added value was basing the scaffold manufacturing process on textile technology and using the advantages of the fabric architecture, which was discussed in depth elsewhere [4,7]. The problem.…”

“…He was associated with several local research institutions including WCM-Q, QCRC, Sidra Hospital, and QSTP. His work has been described in multiple scientific articles [2][3][4][5][6][7] and innovation disclosures (ID). His experiences in the development of in situ engineered heart valves may be presented in the context of the scientific and business relationship in Qatar.…”

“…The corresponding author of this article is a member of the research team which focuses on developing a bioresorbable aortic heart valve (HV) prosthesis. During the last several years, a series of applicable solutions were proposed, some of which are summarized in the research articles [2][3][4][5][6][7]. Briefly, the solutions developed in the course of the research conducted in Qatar included fabrication of the smart scaffold (See Fig.…”

Biocompatibility and Application of Carbon Fibers in Heart Valve Tissue Engineering

“…Textile support as part of heart valve leaflets has been proposed previously by our group and others (5)(6)(7)(8)(9). However, most of the literature has been focused on reinforcement of the leaflet with mono-or multifilament yarns, which will still suffer from creep, fatigue, and unpredictable degradation over time.…”