Developments towards tissue-engineered, small-diameter arterial substitutes.

This article reviews the present state of small-diameter vascular substitution, the mechanisms of graft failure and the ongoing matters of graft design, with particular attention to small-caliber grafts. Tissue engineering of blood vessels with the mechanical properties of native vessels and with the antithrombotic properties required is really a great challenge. Recent advances, however, indicate that the goal of providing a tissue-engineered vascular graft that will remain patent in vivo for substantial periods of time, is achievable.

Old prospects in cardiovascular engineering.

For more than thirty years the thrombogenicity of blood-contacting materials has been deplored. This impotency, combined with inappropriate mechanical properties of these materials, explains the poor patency of medium-sized arterial prostheses and the lack of substitutes for small diameter arteries (psi View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Biocompatibility studies of the Anaconda stent-graft and observations of nitinol corrosion resistance.

Purpose: To validate the deployment, in vivo performance, biostability, and healing capacity of the Anaconda self-expanding endoprosthesis in a canine aortic aneurysm model.

Methods: Aneurysms were surgically created in 12 dogs by sewing a woven polyester patch onto the anterior side of the thoracic or abdominal aorta. Anaconda prostheses were implanted transfemorally for prescheduled periods (1 or 3 months).

Synthesis and evaluation of organosilicon inhibitors of active purine transport in human osteoblasts.

In the search for new compounds that might, once incorporated into biomaterials, stimulate the natural processes of bone regeneration, a new series of silicon-containing alkyl nucleobase analogues has been synthesized. An active hypoxanthine transport process in human osteoblasts was demonstrated, with an apparent Michaelis constant of 2.3 microM and a maximum possible rate of 0.