Synthetic Blood Vessel

It’s a neat trick: seeding smooth muscle cells onto artificial scaffolding in the shape of a blood vessel.  The cells secrete collagen before the scaffold dissolves, and after a detergent washes out the living cells, a collagen tube remains. Because the tube contains no living cells, it is not immuno-reactive, as animal studies have shown.  Artificial blood vessels of this type are shelf-stable at room temperature and a company, Humacyte (Morrisville, NC, in the RTP), has started up to conduct human trials preceding commercialization.  MORE

Image Credit:  Science/AAAS and Technology Review