Valve Tissue Engineering with Living Absorbable Threads

Tissue engineering (TE) depends on the population of scaffolds with appropriate cells, arranged in a specific physiological direction using a variety of techniques. Here, a novel technique of creating "living threads" is described based on thin (poly(ε-caprolactone) fibers of different diameters (23-243 μm). The fibers readily attract human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which are firmly adhered. These versatile fibers can be used to produce dimensional shapes identical in shape to the cup-like structure of a normal human valve, while preserving the specific orientation of both the cells and the fibers. The MSCs on leaflets and the cells cultured in flask shown similar epitopes expression when analyzed by fluorescence activated cell sorting. Together, these characteristics have important functional implications as living absorbable fibers can be a valuable resource in TE of living tissues, including heart valves.