Tissue engineering a blood vessel: regulation of vascular biology by mechanical stresses

Important to the tissue engineering of a substitute blood vessel is an understanding of those factors which regulate vascular biology. A major factor in this regulation is the mechanical environment imposed by the hemodynamics of the vascular system. In this the vascular endothelium plays a critical role, and over the past two decades much has been learned about the influence of hemodynamics on vascular endothelial biology, to a large degree using cell culture to study the effects of flow and cyclic stretch. In our laboratory, such studies are now being extended through the development of a model of the arterial wall involving the co-culture of endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells. The development of such a model and its use in the study of hemodynamic effects represents necessary steps in the evolution of approaches to tissue engineering a blood vessel.