Tissue engineering offers a potential alternative to the existing options of autologous, allogenic, xenogenic or synthetic conduits that are used to bypass obstructive vascular lesions. Each of these current graft materials possess variable long-term durability and patency issues.
The development of successful tissue-engineered prosthetic vessels is expected to require a non-thrombogenic endothelium overlaying a fully developed vascular wall. The graft replacement should be evenly populated with vascular smooth muscle cells and possess a high burst pressure. These vessel constructs subsequently must integrate with the host and maintain the physical endurance of natural host vessels.
To culture tissues with these properties requires stringent constraints on the process conditions and design of the underlying bioreactor environment. BISS has adopted specific strategies to address each pertinent environmental requirement:
| physiologic Requirements: | BISS LumeGen Solutions: |
|---|---|
| Convective Nutrient Transport: | Perfusion Capabilities |
| Uniform Cell Density: | Rotational Seeding |
| Native Physiological Structure and Function: | Physiological in vitro Environment |
The LumeGen architecture provides a physiologic support system that enhances metabolic conditions for cell growth and maintenance in a 3-D environment. The LumeGen's patented technology, US Patent # 7348175, provides physiologic parameters that are feedback-controlled for culture reproducibility. The flexible hardware and computer control systems allow for the development of a wide variety of automated experimental protocols with varying levels of complexity (frequency, force magnitude and application profile) and sample sizes up to n=24.
