Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Mathematical Modelling of Regeneration
of a Tissue-Engineered Trachea
Greg Lemon, John R. King and Paolo Macchiarini
Abstract One of the most promising recent achievements in the field of regen-
erative medicine was the first successful transplantation of a tissue-engineered
trachea (Macchiarini et al. The Lancet 372(9655), 2023-2030). This land-mark
operation has paved the way for developing a host of successful stem cell-based
therapies for treating disease, and the exciting possibility of the tissue engineering
of whole organs. It has also provided the opportunity for new directions in
mathematical and computational modelling for tissue engineering. By way of
describing an approach to modelling the regeneration of a tissue-engineered tra-
chea seeded with cells in situ this chapter will highlight some of the opportunities
and challenges involved in applying mathematical models to these new therapies.
1 Introduction
A significant medical breakthrough was made in 2008 with the first successful
implantation of a tissue-engineered windpipe
1
which saved the life of a young
woman with end-stage tuberculosis. The operation, described in [
47
], utilised a
decellularised donor trachea (Fig.
1
a) which was seeded ex vivo, using a special
bioreactor, with stem cell derived chondrocytes and epithelial cells (EPCs) taken
from the recipient. With the transplanted trachea in situ the seeded cells assembled
1
BBC News, ''Windpipe transplant breakthrough'' Nov. 2008,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
1/hi/7735696.stm
G. Lemon (
)
J. R. King
P. Macchiarini
Advanced Center for Translational Regenerative Medicine, Karolinska Institutet,
Stockholm, Sweden
e-mail: greg.lemon@ki.se
&
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