Project Description Narrative:
Vascular disorders, such as cerebrovascular disease, coronary heart disease, deep vein thrombosis, and peripheral arterial disease, are among the leading causes of death in the United States, including Wisconsin. Surgery is the major management of vascular diseases by replacing or bypassing the damaged blood vessel with a functional vascular substitute. The patient's blood vessels are considered the gold standard grafts for vascular transplantation.
However, not all patients with vascular diseases have sufficient and healthy blood vessels for grafting. Moreover, pain associated with blood vessel harvesting and the need for additional surgeries may further restrict the clinical use of the patient's blood vessels. Recent progress in tissue engineering has opened up new possibilities for developing an artificial blood vessel that closely mimics the structure, dimension, and function of a healthy, native blood vessel.
The goal of this study is to develop a small vascular graft by combining the natural material, nitric oxide (NO)-releasing man-made polymer, and chemical treatment with the cell-free human amnion membrane, that can closely mimic the native blood vessels in terms of structural, physical, biological, and mechanical properties with continuously NO release from the graft.