Tissue engineering applications to vascular bypass graft development: The use of adipose-derived stem cells

Abstract

The burgeoning field of vascular tissue engineering holds promise for the creation of a practical and successful small-diameter arterial bypass graft. Many creative combinations of autologous cells and scaffolds exist along with an equally long list of microenvironmental cues used to create a functional arterial conduit. This review outlines our work using abdominal wall fat as a source of autologous stem cells for vascular tissue engineering, focusing specifically on this stem cell's availability and potency to differentiate into endothelial-like cells. In a series of 49 patients undergoing elective peripheral vascular surgery, an abundant quantity of adult stem cells was harvested from fat obtained by liposuction. The efficacy of the isolation did not appear influenced by advanced age, obesity, renal failure, or vascular disease, although fat from diabetic patients yielded significantly less stem cells. In addition, these adipose-derived stem cells acquired several morphologic and molecular endothelial phenotypes when exposed to growth factors (endothelial cell growth supplement and vascular endothelial growth factor) and physiologic shear stress in vitro. Taken together, these studies suggest that fat appears to be a viable source of autologous stem cells for use in vascular tissue engineering.

Formation of Composite Endothelial Cell–Mesenchymal Stem Cell Islets

“…Composite EC-MSC islet grafts could benefit from the immune regulatory effects of MSCs and from improved revascularization, thereby promoting transplantation at an extrahepatic site. This strategy requires a reliable source of recipient-derived ECs or endothelial precursor cells; however, human endothelial precursor cells can be obtained in relatively large numbers by sorting for circulating angiopoietin receptor Tie-2-positive cells (41) or from adipose-derived stem cells in human fat tissue (42,43). Our promising results with EC-MSC islets strongly suggest that they can contribute to the success of future clinical islet transplantation.…”

Differentiated adipose-derived stem cells for bladder bioengineering

“…To isolate ADSCs, subcutaneous adipose tissue of adult male Lewis rats (n= 10) was excised from their inguinal regions, cut into small pieces and cells were isolated according to the established protocols [11,19]. All of the experiments were carried out using cells that were between passages 3 and 5.…”

“…Other laboratories have published data on the differentiation of ADSCs into SMCs [10][11][12][13]. In a recent study, our group established a reliable small animal model for hypocontractile bladder and demonstrated that ADSCs support the early restoration of bladder voiding with improved voiding pressures and molecular expression of contractile proteins after cell therapy [14].…”

Fibrinogen and fibrin based micro and nano scaffolds incorporated with drugs, proteins, cells and genes for therapeutic biomedical applications

“…94 Both Fbg and Fbn contain binding sites for various angiogenic factors, including adipose-derived stem cells and bone marrow stem cells. 178,179 Both Fbg and Fbn provide a high seeding efficacy with uniform cell distribution for certain stem cells, such as hematopoietic stem cells, endothelial progenitor cells, smooth muscle cells, and MSCs, which are potentially differentiated into vascular-promoting cells in vitro. 180 Endothelial cell−seeded-Fbn-hydrogel-induced blood vessels were shown to achieve good mechanical strength, with significant production of collagen and elastin, and showed considerable vasoreactivity within 2 weeks when implanted into 12-week-old lambs.…”