BIO-TEXTILES FOR BLOOD VESSEL TISSUE ENGINEERING: A REVIEW

Abstract

The cardiovascular diseases are increasing and leading to death which increases the social and economical burden of these diseases. The emergence of tissue engineering has opened new possibilities in vascular grafting and tissue engineering provide alternative solution in the condition of natural blood vessel failure by providing synthetic, semi synthetic or natural blood vessels which are fully functional and can mimic natural tissue. The scaffold should act as a substrate to promote cell growth, differentiation, maintain cell function, allow cells to migrate and direct the formation of new extracellular matrix and hence tissue. A fibrous scaffold can provide the highly porous structure required for a scaffold to accommodate a large number of cells. Biotextiles which are defines as the structure made up of fibres and designed to be used under biological conditions can meet all the criteria compulsory for the design of ideal scaffold structures. Textile based scaffolds may be woven, nonwoven, electospun, knitted, braided or composite construction depending on the application. A review of the research going on in the field of the vascular grafts developments will help in understanding relationships between the structure and property in vascular grafts. The purpose of this review is to take a closer look at textile based structures being used as tissue engineering scaffold for blood vessels. Based on ongoing research and existing products, some new approaches in this interesting area are thoroughly discussed.