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Tissues – From Banking to Engineering
Author(s) -
Kearney J. N.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
transfusion medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.471
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1365-3148
pISSN - 0958-7578
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3148.2006.00693_22.x
Subject(s) - soft tissue , tissue engineering , biomedical engineering , in vivo , tissue culture , microbiology and biotechnology , pathology , medicine , biology , in vitro , biochemistry
Tissue allografts are banked either in the viable or nonviable state. The latter have certain advantages in that the most immunogenic components (e.g. cells and soluble proteins) can be removed from the tissue. This enhances incorporation of the allograft, particularly for tissues with a rapid intrinsic turnover rate (e.g. bone). For other tissues, it has been claimed that the presence of viable donor cells enhances the tissues’ performance in the short to medium term. This is true of skin, where the blood vessels in the skin enosculate with vessels in the wound bed to gain a blood circulation. However this graft is eventually rejected by the recipient. For heart valves, claims of superior performance of viable grafts and long‐term survival of donor cells, are being questioned. The failure of these grafts to re‐cellularise and incorporate has been blamed on immunological responses to immunogenic components. To overcome these problems we have evaluated methods for removing donor cells from soft tissue grafts, without adversely affecting the mechanical and biological properties of the tissue matrix. We have also developed methods for re‐cellularising these tissue matrices with recipients’ cells. For tissues with immediate biomechanical function (e.g. heart valves), bioreactors providing appropriate biomechanical and biological environments have been constructed to simulate in vivo conditions and thus ‘train’ tissue‐engineered grafts, prior to implantation. These techniques are being applied to most of the soft tissue grafts currently supplied by NBS Tissue Services.