@article{KressBaurOttoetal.2018,
  author    = {Kress, Sebastian and Baur, Johannes and Otto, Christoph and Burkard, Natalie and Braspenning, Joris and Walles, Heike and Nickel, Joachim and Metzger, Marco},
  title     = {Evaluation of a miniaturized biologically vascularized scaffold in vitro and in vivo},
  series = {Scientific Reports},
  volume    = {8},
  journal   = {Scientific Reports},
  number    = {4719},
  doi       = {10.1038/s41598-018-22688-w},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-176343},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {In tissue engineering, the generation and functional maintenance of dense voluminous tissues is mainly restricted due to insufficient nutrient supply. Larger three-dimensional constructs, which exceed the nutrient diffusion limit become necrotic and/or apoptotic in long-term culture if not provided with an appropriate vascularization. Here, we established protocols for the generation of a pre-vascularized biological scaffold with intact arterio-venous capillary loops from rat intestine, which is decellularized under preservation of the feeding and draining vascular tree. Vessel integrity was proven by marker expression, media/blood reflow and endothelial LDL uptake. In vitro maintenance persisted up to 7 weeks in a bioreactor system allowing a stepwise reconstruction of fully vascularized human tissues and successful in vivo implantation for up to 4 weeks, although with time-dependent decrease of cell viability. The vascularization of the construct lead to a 1.5× increase in cellular drug release compared to a conventional static culture in vitro. For the first time, we performed proof-of-concept studies demonstrating that 3D tissues can be maintained within a miniaturized vascularized scaffold in vitro and successfully implanted after re-anastomosis to the intrinsic blood circulation in vivo. We hypothesize that this technology could serve as a powerful platform technology in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.},
  language  = {en}
}