Experimental and Modeling Studies of Oxygen Tension in Vascular Tissue Engineering With and Without an Oxygen Carrier

The technology of vascular tissue engineering holds promise in the design of responsive living conduits with properties similar to those of the native tissue. This approach, however, constitutes an important engineering challenge because of the difficulty to grow cells in high density, due to mass transfer limitations (delivery of nutrients and removal of metabolic waste products). The major mass transfer challenge in tissue engineering arises from the inability to deliver sufficient oxygen because of its low solubility and diffusivity in culture media. In this work we utilized perfluorodecalin (PFD) as an oxygen carrier to enhance oxygen delivery for the growth of human coronary artery smooth muscle cells (HCASMCs) seeded at high density on porous 3D polyurethane (PCU) scaffolds. Furthermore, we modeled the diffusive and convective lumen and ablumen oxygen distribution in engineered vascular tissue constructs. Both our experimental and modeling data demonstrate that oxygen tension in 3D scaffolds was improved by using PFD as an oxygen carrier. Dissolved oxygen in the culture media with PFD was significantly higher than the other fluids tested (p = 0.0017). Furthermore, HCASMC number was significantly higher in the presence of PFD than in control scaffolds. Taken together, our data suggest that PFD could be used as oxygen delivery vehicle in vascular tissue engineering strategies.