Tissue-engineering bioreactors: a new combined cell-seeding and perfusion system for vascular tissue engineering

One approach to the tissue engineering of vascular structures is to develop in vitro conditions in order ultimately to fabricate functional vascular tissues before final implantation. In our experiment, we aimed to develop a new combined cell seeding and perfusion system that provides sterile conditions during cell seeding and biomechanical stimuli in order to fabricate autologous human vascular tissue in vitro. The cell seeding and perfusion system is made of Plexiglas and is completely transparent (Berlin Heart, Berlin, Germany; University Hospital Benjamin Franklin, Berlin, Germany). The whole system consists of a cell seeding chamber that can be incorporated into the perfusion system and an air-driven respirator pump connected to the bioreactor. The cell culture medium continuously circulates through a closed-loop system. We thus developed a cell seeding device for static and dynamic seeding of vascular cells onto a polymeric vascular scaffold and a closed-loop perfused bioreactor for long-term vascular conditioning. The cell seeding chamber can be easily connected to the bioreactor, which combines continuous, pulsatile perfusion and mechanical stimulation to the tissue-engineered conduit. Adjusting the stroke volume, the stroke rate, and the inspiration/expiration time of the ventilator allows various pulsatile flows and different levels of pressure. The whole system is a highly isolated cell culture setting, which provides a high level of sterility and a gas supply and fits into a standard humidified incubator. The device can be sterilized by ethylene oxide and assembled with a standard screwdriver. Our newly developed combination of a cell seeding and conditioning device provides sterile conditions and biodynamic stimuli for controlled tissue development and in vitro conditioning of an autologous tissue-engineered vessel.