Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, MS, USA.
Adv Healthc Mater. 2013 Jan;2(1):145-54. doi: 10.1002/adhm.201200106. Epub 2012 Aug 13.
The formation of a stable vascular network in a scaffold is one of the most challenging tasks in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Despite the common use of porous scaffolds in these applications, little is known about the effect of pore size on the neovascularization in these scaffolds. Herein is fabricated poly(D, L-lactide-co-glycolide) inverse opal scaffolds with uniform pore sizes of 79, 147, 224, and 312 μm in diameter and which are then used to systematically study neovascularization in vivo. Histology analyses reveal that scaffolds with small pores (<200 μm) favor the formation of vascular networks with small vessels at high densities and poor penetration depth. By contrast, scaffolds with large pores (>200 μm) favor the formation of vascular networks with large blood vessels at low densities and deep penetration depth. Based on the different patterns of vessel ingrowth as regulated by the pore size, a model is proposed to describe vascularization in a 3D porous scaffold, which can potentially serve as a guideline for future design of porous scaffolds.
支架中稳定血管网络的形成是组织工程和再生医学中最具挑战性的任务之一。尽管在这些应用中普遍使用多孔支架，但对于孔径对这些支架中新生血管的影响知之甚少。本文制备了具有均匀孔径为 79、147、224 和 312μm 的聚（D，L-丙交酯-co-乙交酯）反蛋白石支架，然后用于系统研究体内新生血管化。组织学分析表明，小孔径（<200μm）的支架有利于形成具有高密度和低穿透深度的小血管的血管网络。相比之下，大孔径（>200μm）的支架有利于形成具有低密度和深穿透深度的大血管的血管网络。基于孔径调节的血管内生长的不同模式，提出了一个描述 3D 多孔支架中血管化的模型，该模型可能为未来多孔支架的设计提供指导。
