Chen, Minna2012-04-272012-04-272012-04-18https://hdl.handle.net/11299/123123Mentor: Professor Robert T. TranquilloThe leading cause of death in the United States is coronary heart disease, which is characterized by the narrowing of blood vessels that deliver blood and oxygen to the heart. A possible way to treat this condition is to bypass the blocked arteries, using an artery or vein taken from elsewhere in the patient’s body to go around the blocked region. However, many candidates for these surgeries lack adequate blood vessels that can be used for such purposes. For this reason, it is important to develop a tissue engineered vascular graft (TEVG) that can be used in place of a native vessel. In the Tranquillo Lab, the method for creating TEVGs involves a cell-seeded fibrin gel that is remodeled over time. Initial animal studies have shown that TEVGs created in this way contain proteins that promote clotting. In native vessels, the surface exposed to blood flow is covered by a monolayer of endothelial cells, which prevent clotting. Endothelial cells are also highly immunogenic, so TEVGs created using endothelial cells would have to be made using each patient’s own cells. In this study, we propose to use a monolayer of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which are non-immunogenic, on this surface instead. We have shown that, when exposed to shear stress, MSCs exhibit decreased levels of platelet adhesion. Staining for endothelial cell markers suggests that we may be able to differentiate MSCs to a functional endothelial cell phenotype. If MSCs can be used as an alternative to endothelial cells in TEVGs, this therapy can potentially be available “off-the-shelf” to a large number of patients in the future.en-USCollege of Science and EngineeringChemical EngineeringDepartment of Biomedical EngineeringPresentation