A promising protocol for the endothelialization of vascular grafts in an instrumented rotating bioreactor towards clinical application

authored by

Sebastian Heene, Jannis Renzelmann, Caroline Müller, Nils Stanislawski, Fabian Cholewa, Pia Moosmann, Holger Blume, Cornelia Blume

Abstract

Pre-endothelialization of a tissue-engineered vascular graft before implantation aims to prevent thrombosis and immunoreactions. This work demonstrates a standardized cultivation process to build a confluent monolayer with human aortal endothelial cells on xenogenous scaffolds. Pre-tested dynamic cultivation conditions in flow slides with pulsatile flow (1 Hz) representing arterial wall conditions were transferred to a newly designed multi-featured rotational bioreactor system. The medium was thickened with 1% methyl cellulose simulating a non-Newtonian fluid comparable to blood. Computational fluid dynamics was used to estimate the optimal volume flow and medium distribution inside the bioreactor chamber for defined wall-near shear stress levels. Flow measurements were performed during cultivation for constant monitoring of the process. Three decellularized porcine arteries were seeded and cultivated in the bioreactor over six days. 1% MC turned out to be the optimal percentage to achieve shear stress values ranging up to 10 dyn/cm

². Vascular endothelial cells formed a continuous monolayer with significant cell alignment in the direction of flow. The presented cultivation protocol in the bioreactor system thus displays a promising template for graft endothelialization and cultivation. Therefore, establishing a key step for future tissue-engineered vascular graft development with a view towards clinical application.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Technical Chemistry
Architectures and Systems Section

External Organisation(s)

NIFE - Lower Saxony Centre for Biomedical Engineering, Implant Research and Development

Type

Article

Journal

Biochemical engineering journal

Volume

200

ISSN

1369-703X

Publication date

11.2023

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Bioengineering, Biotechnology, Environmental Engineering, Biomedical Engineering

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bej.2023.109095 (Access: Open)