The National Health Research Institutes (NHRI) yesterday said its researchers had engineered a novel vascular construct of a stem cell-laden 3D-printed scaffold that can enhance tissue revascularization.
As restoring or replacing a malfunctioning human organ is very difficult and waiting for a suitable organ for a transplant can take a long time, transplantable engineered tissue is highly sought after, but its development has been hampered by the lack of a vascular network within the engineered tissue.
The research team manufactured a novel 3D architecture scaffold with poly(glycerol sebacate) acrylate (PGSA), serving as a functional and transplantable vascular construct, which provides an innovative alternative therapeutic strategy for vascular tissue engineering, and could possibly be used to treat ischemic disease and for organ transplants.
Photo: Wu Liang-yi, Taipei Times
The research team is led by NHRI Institute of Cellular and System Medicine director Yet Shaw-fang (林秀芳) and Jane Wang (王潔), an associate professor at National Tsing Hua University’s Department of Chemistry.
To repair or regenerate ischemic tissues, revascularization is essential to support the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the cells and to clear waste products, Jiang Wei-cheng (蔣偉程), a postdoctoral fellow at the NHRI Institute of Cellular and System Medicine, said yesterday.
One of the more recent strategies is “prevascularization,” or forming microvascular networks within the tissue construct before implantation, Jiang said.
However, a major challenge during development is insufficient cell supply in the initial stage prior to implantation, he said, adding that another challenge is selecting the biomaterial and the architecture scaffold for the development of an efficient and effective vascular construct.
Jiang said the team took a regenerative engineering approach by taking stem cells and utilizing a digital light processing system to manufacture a recently designed novel 3D-printed architecture scaffold with PGSA, to be used for the generation of novel vascular constructs.
Transplantation of the vascular construct in wounded mice resulted in the formation of a new vascular network that integrated into the existing vasculature of the host tissue, leading to revascularization and enhanced blood perfusion at the implant site, Lin said.
The technology for engineering the vascular construct could be further developed to help treat diseases, such as peripheral arterial disease in people with diabetes or another ischemic disease, she said, adding that it could also be used for organ transplants, drug testing, or in vitro tissue or organ engineering.
The team’s study was published by the journal Biofabrication in July last year, the NHRI said.
POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT: Japan and the US are expected to hold in-depth discussions on Taiwan-related issues during the meeting next month, Japanese sources said The holding of a Japan-US leaders’ meeting ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit to China is positive news for Taiwan, former Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association representative Hiroyasu Izumi said yesterday. After the Liberal Democratic Party’s landslide victory in Japan’s House of Representatives election, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is scheduled to visit the US next month, where she is to meet with Trump ahead of the US president’s planned visit to China from March 31 to April 2 for a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Japan and the US are expected to hold in-depth discussions on Taiwan-related issues during the
‘LIKE-MINDED PARTNER’: Tako van Popta said it would be inappropriate to delay signing the deal with Taiwan because of China, adding he would promote the issue Canadian senators have stressed Taiwan’s importance for international trade and expressed enthusiasm for ensuring the Taiwan-Canada trade cooperation framework agreement is implemented this year. Representative to Canada Harry Tseng (曾厚仁) in an interview with the Central News Agency (CNA) said he was increasingly uneasy about Ottawa’s delays in signing the agreement, especially as Ottawa has warmed toward Beijing. There are “no negotiations left. Not only [is it] initialed, we have three versions of the text ready: English, French and Mandarin,” Tseng said. “That tells you how close we are to the final signature.” Tseng said that he hoped Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday bestowed one of Taiwan’s highest honors on Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) Ambassador Andrea Clare Bowman in recognition of her contributions to bilateral ties. “By conferring the Order of Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon on Ambassador Bowman today, I want to sincerely thank her, on behalf of the Taiwanese people, for her outstanding contribution to deepening diplomatic ties between Taiwan and SVG,” Lai said at a ceremony held at the Presidential Office in Taipei. He noted that Bowman became SVG’s first ambassador to Taiwan in 2019 and
A man walks past elementary school artworks at the Taipei Lantern Festival in Ximen District yesterday, the first day of the event. The festival is to run from 5pm to 10pm through March 15.
RSS