In vitro fabrication and application of engineered vascular hydrogels

Vascularization is one of the most challenging areas of tissue engineering research. Vascular engineering holds the key to counteracting cardiovascular diseases, which are the main cause of death worldwide, and to performing prevascularization of regenerated in vitro tissues to improve implantation survival. Hydrogels have been thoroughly studied in this field due to their mechanical properties and tissue-like characteristics, including their water content, biocompatibility, and efficient transport of nutrients and metabolites; these characteristics make them applicable to vascular reconstruction. In this review, we focused on the fabrication of blood vessels using biofunctional hydrogels and compared natural and synthetic materials. Various manufacturing methods were also discussed, as well as their applications in modeling tissue in vitro. Hydrogels have been used in vascular engineering owing to their mechanical properties and tissue-like characteristics. Hydrogel-based blood vessels can be constructed from natural or synthetic materials alone, or require a combination of both. The manufacturing methods play an important role in constructing vascular engineering to induce the vascular endothelial cells function driven by shear stress and biomechanical force. The different components and methods of engineered vascular hydrogels described in this review would provide useful information for the desired applications of in vitro tissue models.