Method for creating an internal transport system within tissue scaffolds using computer-aided tissue engineering

摘要

An artificial tissue including an internal mass transport network having a plurality of channels, wherein the channels are designed to substantially mimic naturally occurring vascular network and a method for creating an internal transport system within a tissue scaffold to improve circulation, diffusion, and mass transport properties by utilizing computer-aided tissue engineering (CATE). The artificial tissue has the internal mass transport network of channels embedded, deposited, or molded within a scaffold, wherein the channels are made from a biodegradable transporting material and the scaffold is made from a scaffold material. The artificial tissue of the invention includes a basic circulatory system embedded within the tissue scaffold. This system provides mass transport throughout the entire scaffold and degrades after the new circulatory system develops.

主权项

1. An artificial tissue comprising an internal mass transport network having a plurality of channels, wherein the internal mass transport network comprises a biodegradable transporting material that is substantially free of suspended cells, and which is simultaneously deposited in a pattern with a scaffold material to form a plurality of layers of the artificial tissue, and wherein the channels are designed to substantially mimic a naturally occurring vascular network, such that the internal mass transport network creates a basic circulatory system within the scaffold, and wherein the internal mass transport network having a plurality of channels comprises the void space remaining after the biodegradable transporting material has biodegraded.