In vivo tissue engineering of a trilayered leaflet-shaped tissue construct.

Aim: We aimed to develop a leaflet-shaped trilayered tissue construct mimicking the morphology of native heart valve leaflets. Materials & methods: Electrospinning and in vivo tissue engineering methods were employed.

Results

We developed leaflet-shaped microfibrous scaffolds, each with circumferentially, randomly and radially oriented three layers mimicking the trilayered, oriented structure of native leaflets. After 3 months in vivo tissue engineering with the scaffolds, the generated leaflet-shaped tissue constructs had a trilayered structure mimicking the orientations of native heart valve leaflets. Presence of collagen, glycosaminoglycans and elastin seen in native leaflets was observed in the engineered tissue constructs.

Conclusion

Trilayered, oriented fibrous scaffolds brought the orientations of the infiltrated cells and their produced extracellular matrix proteins into the constructs.