Mock Circulatory Systems for Vascular Tissue Engineering

Abstract

A circulatory mock system which biomimicks mechanical pulsatile stress field in arterial circulatory milieu plays significant roles for vascular tissue-engineering in the aspects of compliance matching and tissue morphogenesis, both of which appear to enable to architect a vascular graft morphologically and functionally resembling to those of a native artery. In this mini-review, fundamental effects of circulatory hydrodynamic forces, that is tangential shear stress and circumferential cyclic strain, are briefly summarized, followed by summary of various types of existing circulatory systems, and promising roles of the circulatory mock system in vascular tissue-engineering are discussed.