Advances in tissue engineering of blood vessels and other tissues

Tissue engineering is a new and rapidly expanding field, in which techniques are being developed for culturing a variety of tissues both in vitro and in vivo using polymer ‘scaffolds’ to support tissue growth. Polymer scaffolds used in tissue engineering are generally biodegradable, often involving compounds which are already approved for human implantation. In some cases, these polymers may be chemically modified to exhibit selective cell adhesion properties, which enhance cell attachment and subsequent tissue growth. Many cell types have been successfully cultured on these scaffolds, including smooth muscle cells, endothelial cells, hepatocytes and chondrocytes. Tissue engineering holds the potential for the in vitro development of autologous or allogeneic transplantable vascular conduits. Each year in the USA, there are approximately 1.4 million procedures performed which require arterial prostheses. Most of these procedures are in small calibre (