Marching towards engineered blood vessels

Associate Professor Heath said researchers around the world have been trying to perfect blood vessel tissue engineering for many years.

While bypass surgery has proved a life-saving alternative for replacing severely damaged blood vessels, it has limitations, particularly for smaller diameter blood channels such as the coronary artery. Non-living synthetic grafts can cause blood clotting and obstruction, making them unsuitable in some circumstances. As a result, patients who have limited options due to past surgery or comorbidities such as diabetes face significant problems.

To overcome these limitations, the researchers investigated developing 'tissue-engineered' blood vessels, which are made from human cells and tissues. These created vessels have the potential to treat cardiovascular illness, as well as construct built-in blood supply for larger tissue creations.

Reference: Spontaneous Orthogonal Alignment of Smooth Muscle Cells and Endothelial Cells Captures Native Blood Vessel Morphology in Tissue-Engineered Vascular Grafts, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, DOI 10.1021/acsami.3c08511