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  • Fabrication Techniques for ...
    Wang, Ziyu; Mithieux, Suzanne M.; Weiss, Anthony S.

    Advanced healthcare materials, 10/2019, Volume: 8, Issue: 19
    Journal Article

    Impaired or damaged blood vessels can occur at all levels in the hierarchy of vascular systems from large vasculatures such as arteries and veins to meso‐ and microvasculatures such as arterioles, venules, and capillary networks. Vascular tissue engineering has become a promising approach for fabricating small‐diameter vascular grafts for occlusive arteries. Vascularized tissue engineering aims to fabricate meso‐ and microvasculatures for the prevascularization of engineered tissues and organs. The ideal small‐diameter vascular graft is biocompatible, bridgeable, and mechanically robust to maintain patency while promoting tissue remodeling. The desirable fabricated meso‐ and microvasculatures should rapidly integrate with the host blood vessels and allow nutrient and waste exchange throughout the construct after implantation. A number of techniques used, including engineering‐based and cell‐based approaches, to fabricate these synthetic vasculatures are herein explored, as well as the techniques developed to fabricate hierarchical structures that comprise multiple levels of vasculature. Impaired or damaged blood vessels can be repaired by tissue engineering approaches. Significant advances have been made in fabricating tissue‐engineered vascular grafts to replace autologous and commercially available grafts. However, persistent hurdles include the provision of sophisticated hierarchical vasculature. Herein, techniques used to fabricate tissue‐engineered vascular graft, mesovasculature, microvasculature, and hierarchical vasculatures are reviewed.