New Sight of Vascular Engineering and Biomaterials: Updates and Future Directions

A special issue of Bioengineering (ISSN 2306-5354). This special issue belongs to the section "Regenerative Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2024) | Viewed by 3817

Special Issue Editors

Department of Biomedical Engineering, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, USA
Interests: tissue regeneration; biomaterials; vascular graft engineering
Department of Chemistry, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, USA
Interests: design, synthesis and characterization of polymeric biomaterials to engineer elastomers; hydrogels; nanomaterials
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery and Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA 94305, USA
Interests: cardiovascular tissue engineering; biomaterials; extracellular matrix interactions; stem cell therapy; peripheral arterial disease; muscle regeneration
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) have remained the greatest threat to health globally in the past decades. Treatment and prevention of CVD are the keys to improving quality of life and increasing life expectancy. In addition to the change of lifestyle and medications, the standard treatment also includes surgeries such as by-pass and reconstruction of vessels and non-surgical procedures, such as stenting, which largely depend on the development of novel biomaterials and techniques for the fabrication of biocompatible tissue substitutes and stents to replace or restore the functionality of blood vessels. Current state-of-the-art studies have already demonstrated the high quality of work in understanding the relationships between vessel cells and extracellular matrix, designing anticoagulant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-infectious scaffolds, minimizing intimal hyperplasia, achieving completely off-the-shelf, advanced techniques in using various stem cells, in situ attracting desirable host cells for remodeling, fabrication of self-assembled tissue-engineered vascular grafts, bioprinting with high precision and accuracy, biomimetic design on different levels of the regenerated construct, novel biodegradable stents, etc. Thanks to these great efforts, we believe a Special Issue on vascular engineering and biomaterials is a great platform to share those brilliant and most up-to-date studies exploring the possibility of next-generation grafts, stents, and tissue substitutes with functional micro-vessels.

Dr. Weilue He
Dr. Xiaochu Ding
Dr. Ngan F. Huang
Guest Editors

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 5975 KiB  
Article
A Next-Generation 3D Tissue-Engineered Model of the Human Brain Microvasculature to Study the Blood-Brain Barrier
by Kalpani N. Udeni Galpayage Dona, Servio H. Ramirez and Allison M. Andrews
Bioengineering 2023, 10(7), 817; https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering10070817 - 08 Jul 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1868
Abstract
More than a billion people are affected by neurological disorders, and few have effective therapeutic options. A key challenge that has prevented promising preclinically proven strategies is the translation gap to the clinic. Humanized tissue engineering models that recreate the brain environment may [...] Read more.
More than a billion people are affected by neurological disorders, and few have effective therapeutic options. A key challenge that has prevented promising preclinically proven strategies is the translation gap to the clinic. Humanized tissue engineering models that recreate the brain environment may aid in bridging this translational gap. Here, we showcase the methodology that allows for the practical fabrication of a comprehensive microphysicological system (MPS) of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Compared to other existing 2D and 3D models of the BBB, this model features relevant cytoarchitecture and multicellular arrangement, with branching and network topologies of the vascular bed. This process utilizes 3D bioprinting with digital light processing to generate a vasculature lumen network surrounded by embedded human astrocytes. The lumens are then cellularized with primary human brain microvascular endothelial cells and pericytes. To initiate mechanotransduction pathways and complete maturation, vascular structures are continuously perfused for 7 days. Constructs are validated for complete endothelialization with viability dyes prior to functional assessments that include barrier integrity (permeability) and immune-endothelial interactions. This MPS has applications for the study of novel therapeutics, toxins, and elucidating mechanisms of pathophysiology. Full article
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15 pages, 20556 KiB  
Article
Microcurrent Reverses Cigarette Smoke-Induced Angiogenesis Impairment in Human Keratinocytes In Vitro
by Chao Lu, Cosima Prahm, Yangmengfan Chen, Sabrina Ehnert, Helen Rinderknecht, Colin D. McCaig, Andreas K. Nussler and Jonas Kolbenschlag
Bioengineering 2022, 9(9), 445; https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering9090445 - 06 Sep 2022
Viewed by 1558
Abstract
Cigarette smoking (CS) leads to several adverse health effects, including diseases, disabilities, and even death. Post-operative and trauma patients who smoke have an increased risk for complications, such as delayed bone or wound healing. In clinical trials, microcurrent (MC) has been shown to [...] Read more.
Cigarette smoking (CS) leads to several adverse health effects, including diseases, disabilities, and even death. Post-operative and trauma patients who smoke have an increased risk for complications, such as delayed bone or wound healing. In clinical trials, microcurrent (MC) has been shown to be a safe, non-invasive, and effective way to accelerate wound healing. Our study aimed to investigate if MC with the strength of 100 μA may be beneficial in treating CS-related healing impairment, especially in regard to angiogenesis. In this study, we investigated the effect of human keratinocyte cells (HaCaT) on angiogenesis after 72 h of cigarette smoke extract (CSE) exposure in the presence or absence of 100 μA MC. Cell viability and proliferation were evaluated by resazurin conversion, Sulforhodamine B, and Calcein-AM/Hoechst 33342 staining; the pro-angiogenic potential of HaCaT cells was evaluated by tube formation assay and angiogenesis array assay; signaling pathway alterations were investigated using Western blot. Constant exposure for 72 h to a 100 μA MC enhanced the angiogenic ability of HaCaT cells, which was mediated through the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. In conclusion, the current data indicate that 100 μA MC may support wound healing in smoking patients by enhancing angiogenesis. Full article
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