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Updated: Jan 6, 2026
Microfluidic Bioprinting for Engineering Vascularized Tissues and Organoids
Published on: August 11, 2017
Generating vascular conduits: from tissue engineering to three-dimensional bioprinting
Renee M Maina1, Maria J Barahona1, Michele Finotti1,2
1Department of Surgery, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
Insights
Tissue engineering and 3D bioprinting offer new solutions for vascular grafts when autologous options are unavailable. Novel 3D bioprinting techniques create functional, scaffold-free vascular conduits with native vessel properties.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Regenerative Medicine
- Cardiovascular Science
Background:
- Vascular diseases are a major global health burden, necessitating effective treatments.
- Current treatments rely on autologous grafts, but donor site limitations and patient factors restrict their use.
- A significant need exists for engineered vascular conduits that mimic native vessel properties.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review advancements in tissue engineering and 3D bioprinting for vascular graft development.
- To highlight the potential of 3D bioprinting for creating de novo vascular conduits.
- To present novel scaffold-free, bioreactor-free 3D bioprinted vascular grafts.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature on tissue-engineered vascular grafts.
- Exploration of various 3D bioprinting strategies and cell-based inks.
- Description of a specific method for creating 3D bioprinted vascular grafts using rat cells.
Main Results:
- Tissue engineering approaches include using scaffolds and acellular compounds.
- 3D bioprinting with cell-based inks shows promise for creating vascular structures.
- Developed scaffold-free, bioreactor-free 3D bioprinted vessels demonstrated patency and native mechanical strength.
Conclusions:
- Tissue engineering and 3D bioprinting are crucial for addressing the shortage of suitable vascular grafts.
- 3D bioprinting offers a versatile platform for fabricating patient-specific vascular conduits.
- Scaffold-free, 3D bioprinted vessels represent a significant advancement in regenerative vascular medicine.
Abstract:
Vascular disease - including coronary artery disease, carotid artery disease, and peripheral vascular disease - is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The standard of care for restoring patency or bypassing occluded vessels involves using autologous grafts, typically the saphenous veins or internal mammary arteries. Yet, many patients who need life- or limb-saving procedures have poor outcomes, and a third of patients who need vascular intervention have multivessel disease and therefore lack appropriate vasculature to harvest autologous grafts from. Given the steady increase in the prevalence of vascular disease, there is great need for grafts with the biological and mechanical properties of native vessels that can be used as vascular conduits. In this review, we present an overview of methods that have been employed to generate suitable vascular conduits, focusing on the advances in tissue engineering methods and current three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting methods. Tissue-engineered vascular grafts have been fabricated using a variety of approaches such as using preexisting scaffolds and acellular organic compounds. We also give an extensive overview of the novel use of 3D bioprinting as means of generating new vascular conduits. Different strategies have been employed in bioprinting, and the use of cell-based inks to create de novo structures offers a promising solution to bridge the gap of paucity of optimal donor grafts. Lastly, we provide a glimpse of our work to create scaffold-free, bioreactor-free, 3D bioprinted vessels from a combination of rat vascular smooth muscle cells and fibroblasts that remain patent and retain the tensile and mechanical strength of native vessels.
