Tissue engineered vascular grafts - Preclinical aspects

Tissue engineering enables the development of fully biological vascular substitutes that restore, maintain and improve tissue function in a manner identical to natural host tissue. However the development of the appropriate preclinical evaluation techniques for the generation of fully functional tissue-engineered vascular graft (TEVG) is required to establish their safety for use in clinical trials and to test clinical effectiveness. This review gives an insight on the various preclinical studies performed in the area of tissue engineered vascular grafts highlighting the different strategies used with respect to cells and scaffolds, typical animal models used and the major in vivo evaluation studies that have been carried out. The review emphasizes the combined effort of engineers, biologists and clinicians which can take this clinical research to new heights of regenerative therapy.