Generating strong vascular grafts

Abstract
Vascular Biology When treating injury or vascular disease, autologous or synthetic grafts are useful, but supplies are limited and often suboptimal. Robust tissue-engineered vascular grafts (TEVGs), particularly ones that can withstand mechanical stress, are highly desirable. Luo et al. generated vascular smooth muscle cells from human induced pluripotent stem cells and cultured them on biodegradable polyglycolic acid scaffolds exposed to pulsatile radial stress. When implanted into rats, these TEVGs showed high mechanical strength with no dilation, elongation, or wall thickening. Moreover, the TEVGs associated with limited thrombosis and showed no teratoma formation. Further optimization and engineering to limit immune rejection should provide cells and tissues suitable for treating injury or dysfunction of the cardiovascular system. Cell Stem Cell 26 , 251 (2020).