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large number of cardiovascular clinical events require surgical
interventions that include the need to replace the failing arteries. Many of
these patients have widespread atherosclerotic disease and therefore lack
adequate blood vessels that could be used for grafting. Tissue
engineered blood vessels may potentially revolutionize vascular replacement
surgery by providing an alternative to synthetic conduits or autologous
grafts. The main approaches that have been
investigated so far in the tissue engineering of artery material substitutes
include the exclusive use of natural components, extracellular matrix and
cells, and of synthetic materials, each having characteristic advantages and
disadvantages. The clearest advantage of using natural components is the
potential to reproduce the tissue structure and biological responsiveness of
the native artery. However, the use of synthetic scaffolds, we can have
better control over the chemical and physical properties, especially
mechanical parameters. Major problems affect all current attempts,
from the low mechanical strength of constructs using only natural
components, to the lack of biological function of constructs built using
strong yet unresponsive synthetic scaffolds, and the immune response that
may be elicited after implantation of either.
To improve the mechanical strength of vascular constructs, it becomes
essential to explore the possibility of adding strength to the natural
components through addition of biodegradable polymers. Thus, the
development of hybrid viable vascular constructs which combine the
advantages of using natural components with the ability to remodel in
response to physiological stimuli should allow synchronization of the
degradation time with the replacement by natural tissue produced by natural
components. Current research project is mainly involved in the in vitro
and in vivo investigation of cellular interaction with biodegradable
polymer scaffolds by controlling various kinds of polymeric properties.
These properties include degradation time, composition, surface properties,
three dimensional structures and mechanical stimuli using a bioreactor which
optimizes, the vascular remodeling process, which is critically related to
the role of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs).