A Review: Textile Technologies for Single and Multi‐Layer Tubular Soft Tissue Engineering

Abstract

In addition, it requires a fundamental understanding of the structure and function of the target tissue type.Tubular tissues, such as vascular, respiratory, or intestinal systems supply the body with important nutrients and transport blood, air, food, or fluids. A defect in these tissues can considerably affect the patient's quality of life, for example, the required surgical reconstruction of connecting pathways between two anatomical structures can significantly reduce the patient's mobility. Current treatment strategies for diseased tubular tissues include transplantations of donor organs, autologous tissues, or implantable medical devices to restore tissue function. [2] However, transplants of donor organs or autologous tissue are limited due to availability, donor site morbidity, and risk of disease transmission. [3] Compared to natural body parts, implants have not yet reached the functionality, quality, or longevity (often need replacement after years). [3] Moreover, they must remain in the body for years, and material-specific compatibility problems can cause chronic inflammatory responses, thus limiting their clinical use. Being able to develop tissues outside the body provides a longterm alternative to organ transplantation that could offset the increasing discrepancy between the required number of donor organs needed and availability due to a growing and aging population and the higher life expectancy. [1] Additionally, eliminating the need for time-intensive therapy, for example, immune suppressants, and improving the patient quality of life. [1] Tubular tissues have many unifying structural and biomechanical characteristics despite their different functions. They consist of a multi-layered muscular wall structure of multiple different cell types. The different cell types are embedded in a surrounding environment, the extracellular matrix (ECM). [1] The ECM serves for the spatial organization of the cells and consists of fibrous structures, for example, collagen or elastin, which are proteins that form fiber bundles. [2] Fibrous structures can be found throughout the human body, whether in the architecture and ECM of specific tissue structures, such as arteries, lymphatic vessels, cartilage, or in the fibrous nature of nerves, muscles, ligaments, tendons. [4] A major aim of TE is to mimic the ECM and develop a 3D scaffold that will be seeded with native cells for tissue formation. Current scaffold designs of tubular tissues include foams, gel mattresses, sponges, meshes, and nanofibrous structures. [5] The scaffold serves as a template In cell-free scaffold tissue engineering (TE), an essential prerequisite is the scaffold design to promote cellular activities and tissue formation. The success is greatly dependent upon the nature of the scaffold including the composition, topography, and mechanical performance. Recent TE approaches use textile technologies to create biomimetic and functional scaffolds similar to the extracellular matrix (ECM). The hierarchical architecture of fiber to yarn to fabric a...

Current biofabrication methods for vascular tissue engineering and an introduction to biological textiles

“…Biological textile approaches allow the production of TEVGs, which can be clinically relevant and transferable to the industry. Several reviews have presented the promise of textile strategies for vascular tissue engineering [23][24][25][26][27]. However, they focused on textile-inspired approaches involving biodegradable plastics (polylactic acid [PLA], polyglycolic acid [PGA], or PCL) or biohybrid scaffolds, including denatured proteins.…”

Tissue-engineered vascular graft based on a bioresorbable tubular knit scaffold with flexibility, durability, and suturability for implantation

“…In severe cases, vascular grafts are widely used to replace damaged vessels in the treatment of vascular disease. 1–4 In particular, TEVGs are a promising approach as a clinically feasible alternative for small-diameter blood vessel replacement. 4–6…”

“…In severe cases, vascular grafts are widely used to replace damaged vessels in the treatment of vascular disease. [1][2][3][4] In particular, TEVGs are a promising approach as a clinically feasible alternative for small-diameter blood vessel replacement. [4][5][6] In general, a TEVG is composed of a scaffold, seeded cells (vascular endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells), and environmental stimuli, including biochemical and physical cues, to facilitate vascular formation.…”

Wearable Carbon Nanotube‐Spandex Textile Yarns for Knee Flexion Monitoring

“…[ 38–40 ] Considering that polymer fibers have already been used in textile manufacturing processes, the feasibility is high for integrating them into textiles using readily available manufacturing technology for scaling, e.g., via weaving, knitting, and braiding techniques. [ 41–44 ]…”

“…[38][39][40] Considering that polymer fibers have already been used in textile manufacturing processes, the feasibility is high for integrating them into textiles using readily available manufacturing technology for scaling, e.g., via weaving, knitting, and braiding techniques. [41][42][43][44] In order to achieve this, CNTs are often paired with commercial textile materials, which also allows for the developed hybrid threads to inherit established properties. For example, development in this area has shown CNTs being paired with spandex, which has been shown to offer excellent strength, elasticity, minimum hysteresis, repeatability, and fast drying capabilities, [40,[45][46][47] in addition to demonstrating large-scale production.…”