Engineering of human hepatic tissue with functional vascular networks.

ABSTRACT: Although absolute organ shortage highlights the needs of alternative organ sources for regenerative medicine, the generation of a three-dimensional (3D) and complex vital organ, such as well-vascularized liver, remains a challenge. To this end, tissue engineering holds great promise; however, this approach is significantly limited by the failure of early vascularization in vivo after implantation. Here, we established a stable 3D in vitro pre-vascularization platform to generate human hepatic tissue after implantation in vivo. Human fetal liver cells (hFLCs) were mixed with human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) and were implanted into a collagen/fibronectin matrix composite that was used as a 3-D carrier. After a couple of days, the fluorescent

SUBMITTER: Takebe T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4154961 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Apr-Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature