Congenital heart defects and atherosclerosis are significant causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. In severe cases, surgical intervention is warranted for the repair of congenital defects or treatment of blocked arteries, with vascular grafting being a routinely used procedure in both cases. However, current vascular grafts are associated with significant limitations, namely the lack of growth potential in infants, blood clotting, calcification and donor shortage.
The current project focuses on using tissue engineering as a means of producing viable, long-term vascular grafts and heart valves to combat such limitations. Specifically, we hope to develop these grafts from a patient’s own cells to essentially bypass any potential for the patient’s body to reject the graft. My role within this project is to determine which cells are the best candidates for building paediatric tissue engineered heart valves (TEHV) and vascular grafts. The cells in question are derived from two different sources in the body: human umbilical artery smooth muscle cells (HUASMCs) and adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (adMSCs). In both cases, the cell derivation is non-invasive or minimally-invasive. The cells will be cultured within a 3-D gel construct and will be evaluated based on their synthesis of collagen and elastin, important structural components of cardiovascular tissue, as well as remodeling of the gel into a tissue-like structure.
It is our thought that adMSCs are promising candidate cells for this project. This data produced herein will provide greater insight for cell selection in the making of future tissue-engineered cardiovascular prostheses.