Tissue engineering construct components

Fig. 1 Overview of the components utilized in tissue engineering constructs.

Other attempts at tissue engineering blood vessels have been made by constructing the vessels ex vivo directly from the cellular components. This may be accomplished by culturing a sheet of human vascular smooth muscle cells in collagen and placing it within a lumenal support to produce tire media. A fibroblast sheet is then similarly cultured and placed about tire media to form the adventitia. Endothelial cells are later seeded into the lumen of the vessel, thus forming a mechanically soimd, three-dimensional vessel. 

Gao, X., Wang, Y., Chen, J., Peng, J., 2013. The role of peripheral nerve ECM components in the tissue engineering nerve construction. Rev. Neurosci. 24,443-453. 

Oxidized hyaluronic acid was coupled with chitosan to form porous scaffolds after freeze drying. The proportion of porosity of the freeze-dried chitosan-hyaluronic acid dialdehyde composite (CHDA) gels enhanced with augmentation in oxidation. Fibroblast cells seeded onto CHDA porous scaffold adhered, proliferated and offered extracellular matrix components on the scaffold [99]. Chondrocytes encapsulated in CHDA gels retained their viability and specific phenotypic features. The gel material is therefore projected as a scaffold and encapsulated material for tissue engineering applications. Films of hyaluronan (HA) and a phosphoryl choline-modified chitosan (PC-CH) were constructed by the electrolyte multilayer (PEM)... 

Cell-based scaffold systems for bladder regeneration that are based on the use of isolated urothelial and smooth muscle cells, which are the key cellular components of the native bladder, have shown promise in early studies. In order to engineer bladder tissue in vitro, these cell types can be cultured and expanded in vitro, seeded on scaffolds, and allowed to adhere to the scaffold. They then form cellular structures on the scaffold, and this construct can be implanted into the patient. It is hypothesized that the tissue engineered 3D bladder, will exhibit fully differentiated cell populations after implantation in vivo and the presence of these cells will reduce the inflammatory immune response to the matrix as well as prevent graft contraction and shrinkage. 

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