Department of Chemistry, CICECO - Aveiro Institute of Materials, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal.
Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel, Basel, 4056, Switzerland; Department of Surgery, University Hospital Basel, Basel, 4056, Switzerland.
Biomaterials. 2021 Feb;269:120628. doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2020.120628. Epub 2020 Dec 21.
The maintenance of a healthy vascular system is essential to ensure the proper function of all organs of the human body. While macrovessels have the main role of blood transportation from the heart to all tissues, microvessels, in particular capillaries, are responsible for maintaining tissues' functionality by providing oxygen, nutrients and waste exchanges. Occlusion of blood vessels due to atherosclerotic plaque accumulation remains the leading cause of mortality across the world. Autologous vein and artery grafts bypassing are the current gold standard surgical procedures to substitute primarily obstructed vascular structures. Ischemic scenarios that condition blood supply in downstream tissues may arise from blockage phenomena, as well as from other disease or events leading to trauma. The (i) great demand for new vascular substitutes, arising from both the limited availability of healthy autologous vessels, as well as the shortcomings associated with small-diameter synthetic vascular grafts, and (ii) the challenging induction of the formation of adequate and stable microvasculature are current driving forces for the growing interest in the development of bioinspired strategies to ensure the proper function of vasculature in all its dimensional scales. Here, a critical review of well-established technologies and recent biotechnological advances to substitute or regenerate the vascular system is provided.
维持健康的血管系统对于确保人体所有器官的正常功能至关重要。虽然大动脉主要负责将血液从心脏输送到所有组织，但微血管，特别是毛细血管，通过提供氧气、营养物质和废物交换来维持组织的功能。由于动脉粥样硬化斑块的积累导致血管阻塞仍然是全球主要的死亡原因。自体静脉和动脉旁路移植术是目前替代主要阻塞性血管结构的黄金标准手术程序。下游组织的血液供应可能会出现缺血情况，这可能是由于阻塞现象，也可能是由于其他导致创伤的疾病或事件引起的。（i）对新的血管替代品的巨大需求，既源于健康自体血管的有限可用性，也源于小直径合成血管移植物的缺点，以及（ii）适当且稳定的微血管形成的挑战性诱导，是对开发仿生策略以确保血管在所有维度尺度上正常功能的日益关注的当前驱动力。在这里，对替代或再生血管系统的成熟技术和最近生物技术进展进行了批判性回顾。
