MICRO-AND NANOTECHNOLOGY FOR VASCULAR TISSUE ENGINEERING - Micro and Nanotechnologies in Engineering Stem Cells and Tissues - page 236

11
MICRO- AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
FOR VASCULAR TISSUE
ENGINEERING
R YAN S. S TOWERS AND L AURA J. S UGGS
Laboratory for Cardiovascular Tissue Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering,
University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
11.1 INTRODUCTION
Vascular tissue engineering aims to regenerate functional blood vessels through the
use of biomaterial scaffolds either preseeded with cells or designed to recruit host
cells for remodeling. The field can be divided according to two overall objectives: to
develop small-diameter vascular grafts with long-term patency and to generate
microvascular capillary networks within large tissue-engineered scaffolds. 1,2 Both of
these distinct goals benefit from recent applications of micro- and nanotechnologic
innovations. Early attempts in vascular tissue engineering, especially in regard to
vascular grafts, have not met expectations in part because little was known about how
micro- and nanofeatures could guide cellular regeneration. As it became apparent
that cells interact with their environment at multiple length scales, engineers looked
to fabricate scaffolds with micro- and nanoscale architectures. This chapter discusses
recent micro- and nanotechnologic approaches to tissue-engineered vascular graft
design and biomaterial-driven microvascular formation.