Bioengineering is used to frame physiological blood vessels

Cardiovascular disease remains one of the leading causes of
morbidity and mortality worldwide.
In people with cardiovascular disease, the blood vessels responsible for transporting blood, oxygen, and nutrients can become narrowed or blocked, leading to many complications
.
While vascular reconstruction and grafting are common steps in surgery, biomanufactured grafts used in these surgeries have many drawbacks, such as weak
mechanical strength.
To overcome these problems, Brigham University researchers have used advances in bioengineering to improve 3D bioprinting
of vascular tissue with functional and mechanical characteristics.
The team used the crosslinking properties of natural polymers to develop a dual-network hydrogel bioink for bioprinting catheters
.
These catheters have key physiological properties of blood vessels, including strong vasoconstriction, vasodilation, perfusion, and barrier properties
compared to primary vessels.
In light of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the researchers also demonstrated the possibility of
using these vessels for SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus testing.

"The blood vessels we printed really mimic the mechanics of a lot of native blood vessels," said senior corresponding author Y.
Y.
Dr Shrike Zhang said
.
"This study demonstrates the potential of this catheter as a model for transplanted blood vessels in vascular surgery, other disease studies, and a wide range of
biomedical applications.
"

Microfluidic Bioprinting of Tough Hydrogel-based Vascular Conduits for Functional Blood Vessels