Ingeniería de tejidosaplicaciones en el diseño de implantes cardiovasculares

Resum

The development of biodegradable grafts for Cardiovascular Surgery by Tissue Engineering techniques is at present a promising research field in Biomedical research for repairing both congenital and acquired cardiovascular diseases in neonatal and adult patients. These grafts should be constituted by a suitable biodegradable material covered with cultured cells that allows a progressive and complete substitution of the damaged tissue. The design and preparation of functional biodegradable grafts requires a multidisciplinary approach and a coordinated research in Cardiovascular Surgery, Biomaterials, Biochemistry, Cell Biology and Bioengineering fields. The biomedical research groups of the Universidad Complutense (UCM), Rey Juan Carlos (URJC), Politécnica (UPM) and the Instituto Pediátrico del Corazón (IPC) ¿ Cirugía Cardiaca Infantil of the Hospital Universitario «12 de Octubre» de Madrid, develop a multidisciplinar coordinated project for obtaining autologue, non trombogenic and biodegradable grafts, by Tissue Engineering techniques, that fulfill specific characteristics, from the point of view of scaffold¿s adequacy, biochemical function and mechanical resistance to the usual surgical techniques with growth capacity in agreement with the patient development avoiding the successive operations that are necessary nowadays when artificial prosthesis are used. The biopolymer poli(å-caprolactona) (PCL), modified to improve the cell adhesion and proliferation, has been selected as scaffold for culturing different cells (endothelial, vascular smooth muscle, HUVEC and mesenchymal cells) carrying out in vitro biocompatibility, biofunctionality studies and mechanical assays to evaluate the grafts¿ viability.