Department of Complex Tissue Regeneration, MERLN Institute for Technology-Inspired Regenerative Medicine, Maastricht University, Universiteitssingel 40, 6229ER Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Department of Complex Tissue Regeneration, MERLN Institute for Technology-Inspired Regenerative Medicine, Maastricht University, Universiteitssingel 40, 6229ER Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Biomater Adv. 2022 Aug;139:212972. doi: 10.1016/j.bioadv.2022.212972. Epub 2022 Jun 6.
Smooth muscle cells play a pivotal role in maintaining blood pressure and remodeling of the extracellular matrix. These cells have a characteristic spindle shape and are aligned in the radial direction to aid in the constriction of any artery. Tissue engineered grafts have the potential to recreate this alignment and offer a viable alternative to non-resorbable or autologous grafts. Specifically, with melt spinning small diameter fibers can be created that can align circumferentially on the scaffolds. In this study, a set of simplified equations were formulated to predict the final fiber parameters. Smooth muscle cell alignment was monitored on the fabricated scaffolds. Finally, a co-culture of smooth muscle cells in direct contact with endothelial cells was performed to assess the influence of the smooth muscle cell alignment on the morphology of the endothelial cells. The results show that the equations were able to accurately predict the fiber diameter, distance and angle. Primary vascular smooth muscle cells aligned according to the fiber direction mimicking the native orientation. The co-culture with endothelial cells showed that the aligned smooth muscle cells did not have an influence on the morphology of the endothelial cells. In conclusion, we formulated a series of equations that can predict the fiber parameters during melt spinning. Furthermore, the method described here can create a vascular graft with smooth muscle cells aligned circumferentially that morphologically mimics the native orientation.
平滑肌细胞在维持血压和细胞外基质重塑方面起着关键作用。这些细胞呈典型的纺锤形，沿径向排列，有助于动脉的收缩。组织工程移植物有可能重建这种排列，并为不可吸收或自体移植物提供可行的替代方案。具体来说，通过熔融纺丝可以制造出能够在支架上沿圆周排列的小直径纤维。在这项研究中，提出了一组简化方程来预测最终纤维参数。监测了在制造的支架上平滑肌细胞的排列情况。最后，进行了平滑肌细胞与内皮细胞直接接触的共培养，以评估平滑肌细胞排列对内皮细胞形态的影响。结果表明，这些方程能够准确地预测纤维的直径、间距和角度。原代血管平滑肌细胞根据纤维方向排列，模拟了天然取向。与内皮细胞的共培养表明，排列整齐的平滑肌细胞对内皮细胞的形态没有影响。总之，我们提出了一系列可以在熔融纺丝过程中预测纤维参数的方程。此外，这里描述的方法可以制造出具有圆周排列平滑肌细胞的血管移植物，其形态模拟了天然取向。
