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Fractal characteristics of the microvascular network: A useful index to assess vascularization level of porous silk fibroin biomaterial
Author(s) -
Zhan Kuihua,
Bai Lun,
Wu Qinqin,
Lei Derong,
Wang Guangqian
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of biomedical materials research part a
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.849
H-Index - 150
eISSN - 1552-4965
pISSN - 1549-3296
DOI - 10.1002/jbm.a.36094
Subject(s) - fibroin , materials science , biomaterial , fractal dimension , fractal , biomedical engineering , silk , tissue engineering , fractal analysis , composite material , nanotechnology , mathematics , engineering , mathematical analysis
The neovascularization of biomaterials for tissue engineering is not only related to growth of capillaries but also involves appropriate hierarchy distribution of the microvessels. In this study, we proposed hierarchy distribution contrast method which can assess vascular transport capacity, in order to examine the hierarchy distribution of the neovessels during vascularization of the porous silk fibroin biomaterials implanted into rats and its evolution. The results showed that the fractal characteristics appeared toward the end of the vascularization stages, and the structure of the microvascular network after 3 weeks of implantation was similar to the fractal microvascular tree with bifurcation exponent x = 3 and fractal dimension D = 1.46, which became a sign of maturation of the regenerative vasculature. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 105A: 2276–2290, 2017.