Chen, MinnaSyedain, ZeeshanTranquillo, Robert2011-05-272011-05-272011-04-13https://hdl.handle.net/11299/104916Faculty adviser: Robert T. TranquilloTissue engineering provides a means for creating functional biological vascular grafts. A viable, strong, yet compliant, tissue-engineered vascular graft can be used as an alternative to native arteries in vascular surgeries and increase the quality of life for adults with heart disease, a leading cause of death in the United States. Previous work in the Tranquillo lab has shown that vascular grafts seeded with neonatal human dermal fibroblasts (nHDFs) can be engineered with burst pressures of up to 1600 mmHg. However, for the development of autologous vascular grafts for implantation, grafts seeded with adult human dermal fibroblasts (aHDFs) are more relevant. Previous work in the Tranquillo lab has shown that we can engineer grafts seeded with aHDFs to achieve burst pressures of up to 2200 mmHg, but that the remodeling of the fibrin scaffold and collagen production is significantly different between grafts seeded with aHDFs and those seeded with nHDFs. In this study, we analyzed methods to modify fibrin degradation by adult fibroblasts. In an earlier study, changing the initial fibrin concentration was shown to have a strong effect on the remodeling of engineered tissue. Further testing was performed by incubating aHDF grafts in conditioned media from nHDF grafts. Results showed differences from both changing the initial fibrin concentration and from adding conditioned media on tissue remodeling and collagen production.en-USCollege of Science and EngineeringDepartment of Chemical Engineering and Materials ScienceDepartment of Biomedical EngineeringPresentation