Dahl Shannon L M, Koh Jennifer, Prabhakar Vikas, Niklason Laura E
Departments of Biomedical Engineering, Durham, NC 27708.
Department of Bioengineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093.
Cell Transplant. 2003 Sep;12(6):659-666. doi: 10.3727/000000003108747136.
More than 570,000 coronary artery bypass grafts are implanted each year, creating an important demand for small-diameter vascular grafts. For patients who lack adequate internal mammary artery or saphenous vein, tissue-engineered arteries may prove useful. However, the time needed to tissue engineer arteries (7 weeks or more) is too long for many patients. Decellularized cadaveric human arteries are another possible source of vascular conduit, but limited availability and the potential for disease transmission limit their widespread use. In contrast, decellularized tissue-engineered arteries could serve as grafts for immediate implantation, as scaffolds onto which patients' cells could be seeded, or as carriers for genetically engineered cells to aid cell transplantation. The goal of this study was to quantify the effects of decellularization on vascular matrix and mechanical properties. Specifically, we compared cellular elimination, extracellular matrix retention, and mechanical characteristics of porcine carotid arteries before and after treatment with three decellularization methods. In addition, for the first time, tissue-engineered arteries were decellularized. Decellularized native arteries were also used as a scaffold onto which vascular cells were seeded. These studies identified a decellularization method for native and engineered arteries that maximized cellular elimination, without greatly compromising mechanical integrity. We showed that engineered tissues could be decellularized, and demonstrated the feasibility of reseeding decellularized vessels with vascular cells.
每年有超过57万例冠状动脉搭桥手术，这对小口径血管移植物产生了重要需求。对于缺乏足够内乳动脉或大隐静脉的患者，组织工程动脉可能会被证明是有用的。然而，对于许多患者来说，组织工程动脉所需的时间（7周或更长时间）太长了。脱细胞尸体人动脉是血管导管的另一个可能来源，但可用性有限以及疾病传播的可能性限制了它们的广泛使用。相比之下，脱细胞组织工程动脉可以作为立即植入的移植物，作为可以接种患者细胞的支架，或者作为基因工程细胞的载体以辅助细胞移植。本研究的目的是量化脱细胞对血管基质和力学性能的影响。具体而言，我们比较了三种脱细胞方法处理前后猪颈动脉的细胞清除、细胞外基质保留和力学特性。此外，首次对组织工程动脉进行了脱细胞处理。脱细胞的天然动脉也被用作接种血管细胞的支架。这些研究确定了一种用于天然和工程动脉的脱细胞方法，该方法能最大限度地清除细胞，同时又不会严重损害力学完整性。我们表明工程组织可以进行脱细胞处理，并证明了用血管细胞重新接种脱细胞血管的可行性。
