Biochemical and Biomechanical Myogenic Differentiation of Adipose-Derived Stem Cells for Tissue Engineering Applications

Abstract

Tissue engineering has shown great promise in generating vascular grafts with properties similar to that of native blood vessels. Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells (VSMC) are the main component of the vasculature tunica media. Recreation of this layer represents a major challenge in tissue engineering due to difficulties in harvesting and culturing autologous VSMC. The use of stem cells and their inherent ability to differentiate into diverse cell types, including vascular lineages, have been proposed