Biocompatibility of cardiovascular devices - Biomaterials and Devices for the Circulatory System - page 67

(a) (b)

3.1 Exogenous delivery of FGF-1 promotes endothelialization of
prosthetic grafts (expanded polytetrafl uoroethylene, ePTFE). (a) An
untreated graft (mag

486). Note the capillary in-growth, cellular coverage, and the central
mitotic fi gure (Gray et al. , 1994).

× 117) and (b) an FGF-1-treated graft (mag ×

Stem cells

The use of autologous ECs for tissue engineering and cell seeding strategies
is clearly desirable for the avoidance of immunogenic rejection to alloge-
neic sources of ECs which would require aggressive immunosuppressive
regimens. However, healthy ECs are commonly lacking in typical elderly
cardiovasculopaths who suffer from diabetic and ischemic peripheral and
coronary tissues. The use of both adult mesenchymal stem cells, and perhaps
to a lesser extent embryonic stem cells, has the theoretical advantage of
bypassing these limitations (Ou et al. , 2009). Implantation of biomaterials
populated with cells resembling cardiomyocytes differentiated from mes-
enchymal stem cells for use as tissue patches in infarcted tissues demon-
strate the practical applicability of these strategies (Cho et al. , 2006; Wu et
al. , 2006; Aper et al. , 2007; Lim et al. , 2008; Jin et al. , 2009).

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Pharmacology

Pharmacologic approaches to improving device biocompatibility are broad
in both the host processes targeted, the agents delivered, and the spectrum
of delivery modalities. Agents used include anti-infl ammatories, antibiotics,