Artificial Blood Vessels
3-D printing is not the only means for making artificial structures; another technique is electro-spinning, which is what researchers at Shanghai University used to fabricate a three layer artificial blood vessel for vascular grafting. Quoting from this piece: “As a rule, surrogate scaffolds need to mimic the natural vasculature of their targeted tissue as much as possible. For blood vessel surrogates, this structural mimicry can be fabricated by electrospinning, a process which uses an electrical charge to draw liquid inputs — here a mixture of chitosan and polyvinyl alcohol — into incredibly fine fibers. Electrospinning also allows for a high surface-to-volume ratio of nanofibers, providing ample space for host cells to grow and connect. These components all naturally degrade within six months to a year, leaving behind a new, intact blood vessel.” MORE
Image Credit: Liu, Shanghai University and ScienceDaily.com