Therapeutic angiogenesis in bioengineered muscle tissue

描述（由申请人提供）：组织工程是一个活跃的研究领域，作为组织和器官替代的最终策略。合成用于临床用途的组织的一个主要障碍是在大量工程组织的血管化方面存在困难。初步数据表明，血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）可以诱导工程骨骼肌内的血管生长。本研究训练计划旨在进一步发展利用膀胱平滑肌组织补充VEGF诱导血管生成的模型。人膀胱平滑肌在补充VEGF的胸腺小鼠皮下组织中植入胶原蛋白。该组织将在晚些时候被检索，并将研究工程膀胱肌肉组织的表型和功能特征。这种新型的生物工程平滑肌系统将应用于治疗尿失禁和其他功能平滑肌组织缺乏的疾病。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Tissue engineering is an active area of investigation as an ultimate strategy for tissue and organ replacement. A major barrier to the ability to synthesize tissues for clinical use has been difficulties in vascularizing large volumes of engineered tissue. Preliminary data has shown that the induction of blood vessel growth within engineered skeletal muscle can be achieved using vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). This research training proposal seeks to further develop this model of angiogenesis induction using bladder smooth muscle tissue supplemented with VEGF. Human bladder smooth muscle will be seeded with collagen in the subcutaneous tissue of athymic mice with VEGF supplementation. The tissue will be retrieved at a later date, and the phenotypic and functional characteristics of engineered bladder muscle tissue will be investigated. This novel system of bioengineered smooth muscle would have applications in the treatment of incontinence and other disorders wherein there is a deficiency in functional smooth muscle tissue.