Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2010 Oct;21(5):704-9.
doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2010.06.005. Epub 2010 Jul 16.

Engineering more than a cell: vascularization strategies in tissue engineering

Edward A Phelps  1 , Andrés J García
Affiliations
Review

Engineering more than a cell: vascularization strategies in tissue engineering

Edward A Phelps et al. Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2010 Oct.

Abstract

Host integration and performance of engineered tissues have been severely limited by the lack of robust strategies to generate patent vascularization and tissue perfusion. This review highlights a selection of exciting developments in vascularization approaches for tissue engineering research. Current strategies for vascularization in tissue engineering are related to growth factor signaling and delivery, cell transplantation, bioactive smart matrix materials, and directed fabrication. Application of these techniques to in vivo models has resulted in a number of robust host vascular responses, especially with synergistic and engineered bioactive systems. The future outlook of the field includes refinement and development of new technologies for vascularization and combining these techniques with functional repair models for metabolically active tissues and relevant disease states.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Effective strategies for inducing vascularization in engineered tissues include delivery of: A. Growth factors such as VEGF and bFGF as recombinant proteins or gene vectors. EPC-mobilizing cytokines such as G-CSF B. Progenitor cells such as EPC and MSC C. Biomaterials such as bioactive PEG hydrogels D. Vessel conduits or endothelium-lined channels directly fabricated into an implant. E. Combination therapies such as growth factor binding scaffolds with cells
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Nerem RM. Tissue engineering: the hope, the hype, and the future. Tissue Eng. 2006;12:1143–1150. An excellent perspective on the field offering a historical review, policy implications, and future directions. - PubMed
    1. Kannan RY, Salacinski HJ, Sales K, Butler P, Seifalian AM. The roles of tissue engineering and vascularisation in the development of micro-vascular networks: a review. Biomaterials. 2005;26:1857–1875. - PubMed
    1. Carmeliet P, Tessier-Lavigne M. Common mechanisms of nerve and blood vessel wiring. Nature. 2005;436:193–200. An in depth look at the molecular regulators of angiogenesis induction and pathfinding. - PubMed
    1. Gupta R, Tongers J, Losordo DW. Human studies of angiogenic gene therapy. Circ Res. 2009;105:724–736. Reviews clinical trials of angiogenic gene therapy. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cheng D, Sefton MV. Dual delivery of placental growth factor and vascular endothelial growth factor from poly(hydroxyethyl methacrylate-co-methyl methacrylate) microcapsules containing doubly transfected luciferase-expressing L929 cells. Tissue Eng Part A. 2009;15:1929–1939. - PubMed

Publication types