Engineered tubular tissue structures

摘要

A method and apparatus and associated components are described for producing a cellular tissue structure including a wall surrounding a space or passage. A suspension of cells is introduced into a culture vessel ( 70 ) of elongate tubular form defining an internal tissue formation surface. The vessel is rotated about a rotary axis to cause the cells in the suspension to move under the influence of centrifugal force to collect and form a layer on the tissue formation surface. The layer is then exposed to a tissue culture medium. The tissue formation surface is preferably resiliently compressive and a pulsed or other time-varying pressure is preferably applied during at least the maturation phase of formation of the cellular tissue structure. Various forms of apparatus are described to allow a large array of elongate culture vessels to be built and serviced in common or individually.