Vascular persistence following precision micropuncture

Abstract

ObjectiveThe success of engineered tissues continues to be limited by time to vascularization and perfusion. Recently, we described a simple microsurgical approach, termed micropuncture (MP), which could be used to rapidly vascularize an adjacently placed scaffold from the recipient macrovasculature. Here we studied the long‐term persistence of the MP‐induced microvasculature.MethodsSegmental 60 μm diameter MPs were created in the recipient rat femoral artery and vein followed by coverage with a simple Type 1 collagen scaffold. The recipient vasculature and scaffold were then wrapped en bloc with a silicone sheet to isolate intrinsic vascularization. Scaffolds were harvested at 28 days post‐implantation for detailed analysis, including using a novel artificial intelligence (AI) approach.ResultsMP scaffolds demonstrated a sustained increase of vascular density compared to internal non‐MP control scaffolds (p < 0.05) secondary to increases in both vessel diameters (p < 0.05) and branch counts (p < 0.05). MP scaffolds also demonstrated statistically significant increases in red blood cell (RBC) perfused lumens.ConclusionsThis study further highlights that the intrinsic MP‐induced vasculature continues to persist long‐term. Its combination of rapid and stable angiogenesis represents a novel surgical platform for engineered scaffold and graft perfusion.