Experimental study on constructing the wall of blood vessel by tissue engineering approach

Aim: To investigate the possibility of constructing the middle layer of artery through tissue engineering. Methods: Cell-PGA mixtures were made by seeding 1 × 107 canine smooth muscle cells isolated from carotid artery onto PGA scaffold, the cell-PGA constructs were wrapped around a silicone tube before its implantation subcutaneously to nude mice, the mice were sacrificed after 2, 6 and 11 weeks, the tissue engineered artery (TEA) was examined both grossly and immunohistochemically. Results: The histological characteristics of the middle layer of the engineered artery was different at the different times. Conclusion: Middle layer of engineered vessel with histology similar to natural vesel could be made by tissue engineering.