| STUDY |
Engineered vessels prepn., by growing them under conditions mimicking the in vivo environment of natural arteries. The team cultures smooth-muscle cells from pig arteries & seeds them on biodegradable tubular scaffolds. The scaffolds are submerged in a liquid nutrient medium & a second liquid is pulsed through them. The cells reproduce as the matrices degrade, forming the vessels. The pulsing exposes the growing arteries to physical forces similar to what native arteries experience from the pulsing of the heart. Finally endothelial cells are seeded onto the vessels to form the interior layer as they do in natural vessels
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