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Increasing the Volume of Vascularized Tissue Formation in Engineered Constructs: An Experimental Study in Rats

2003; Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; Volume: 111; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1097/01.prs.0000046034.02158.eb

1529-4242

Stefan O.P. Hofer, Katherine M. Knight, Justin J. Cooper‐White, Andrea J. O’Connor, Jilska M. Perera, Rosalind Romeo-Meeuw, Anthony Penington, Kenneth R. Knight, Wayne A. Morrison, Aurora Messina,

Bone Tissue Engineering Materials

The authors have previously described a model of in vivo tissue generation based on an implanted, microsurgically created vessel loop in a plastic chamber (volume, 0.45 ml) containing a poly(DL-lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) scaffold. Tissue grew spontaneously in association with an intense angiogenic sprouting from the loop and almost filled the chamber, resulting in a mean amount of tissue in chambers of 0.23 g with no added matrix scaffold and 0.33 g of tissue in PLGA-filled chambers after 4 weeks of incubation. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether a greater volume of tissue could be generated when the same-size vessel loop was inserted into a larger (1.9 ml) chamber. In four groups of five rats, an arteriovenous shunt sandwiched between two disks of PLGA, used as a scaffold for structural support, was placed inside a large polycarbonate growth chamber. Tissue and PLGA weight and volume, as well as histological characteristics of the newly formed tissue, were assessed at 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks. Tissue weight and volume showed a strong linear correlation. Tissue weight increased progressively from 0.13 +/- 0.04 g at 2 weeks to 0.57 +/- 0.06 g at 6 weeks (p < 0.0005). PLGA weight decreased progressively from 0.89 +/- 0.07 g at 2 weeks to 0.20 +/- 0.09 g at 8 weeks (p < 0.0005). Histological examination of the specimens confirmed increased tissue growth and maturation over time. It is concluded that larger quantities of tissue can be grown over a longer period of time by using larger-size growth chambers.