Elastin: the missing link in human heart valve tissue engineering (08113)

Project nummer: 08113

Omschrijving van het onderzoek

The development of living autologous valve substitutes according to the tissue engineering paradigm offers a promising alternative to currently available heart valve replacements, being capable to grow and remodel. Human heart valve tissue engineering has always focused on the formation of collagen to provide tissue strength. However, the role of elastin in the biomechanical behavior of a valve has long been underestimated and is now being considered to be a missing link in human heart valve tissue engineering. As the current status of human heart valve tissue engineering allows for sufficient amounts of collagen, it is time to shift focus to elastin production. Cell monolayer studies (2D) will be used to gain insight into the capability of human venous derived cells to produce the elastic network components. Upregulation of this process will be studied on gene expression level using various biochemical and biomechanical triggers. The results of the 2D study will be used to define culture conditions to assess the production of elastic network components in a 3D environment based on a TE model system. This model system consists of tissue strips engineered according to the heart valve tissue engineering protocols. When culture conditions are determined to render elastin, the results will be translated for tissue engineering of human heart valves. When elastin formation in tissue-engineered human heart valves is shown to be feasible, the chance of success for routine use in the clinic will increase by generating valves with biomechanical behavior mimicking its native counterparts.

Gebruikers

Three companies and one other university are involved in this project.

Projectleider

Dr. A. Mol
Technische Universiteit Eindhoven
Faculteit Biomedische Technologie
Biomechanics & Tissue Engineering
Postbus 513
5600 MB EINDHOVEN

Status van het project

Startdatum:	01-05-2008
Einddatum:	30-04-2011

Trefwoorden

Collagen, elastin, extracellular matrix, heart valve, modelling, tissue engineering.

Print | Over deze site |

Sitemap | Voorbehoud | Gewijzigd 14-1-2009