GENERATION OF VASCULARISED, BIOENGINEERED SOFT TISSUES

当今再造外科中最令人兴奋的领域之一是人体部位的组织工程，这是一种将血管植入皮肤、肌肉、骨骼、软骨甚至合成材料中，以构建复合活体结构的过程。一旦血液循环建立起来，经过改造的部分就可以通过将植入的血管连接到受体部位的相应血管上来转移。我们已经发现，在一个圆柱形的塑料腔中，植入一个由天然结构分子制成的支架，通过外科手术制造的血管袢，新的组织将从中生长出来。在本项目的第一部分中，计划通过在生长腔中添加各种生物可降解支架来优化新血管化组织的生长速度。在第二部分中，我们的目标是通过三种可能的方法产生脂肪：(a)来自大鼠阴囊的细胞，(b)与血液供应分离24小时的骨骼肌，或(c)骨髓来源的干细胞，以及来自相同来源的干细胞的骨。在第三部分中，在第二部分中产生的血管化骨、脂肪和结缔组织将通过显微外科手术转移到身体的另一个部位，以研究这些组织的短期（4周）和长期（12周）生存和变化（如果有的话）。这些独特的方法目前正在申请专利。该技术引入了生产特定成分的定制组织的可能性，以适应特定组织类型的修复，例如，(1)替代创伤性损伤后组织损失的肌皮瓣，(2)修复鼻子、手指或关节的骨骼，以及(3)提供面部和颈部轮廓缺陷所需的大块皮瓣的脂肪。适当体型的新生长腔的发育(例如：耳朵、鼻子等)具有重大的商业意义。

One of the most exciting areas in reconstructive surgery today is the tissue engineering of body parts, the process by which blood vessels are implanted into skin, muscle, bone, cartilage or even synthetic materials, to build composite living structures. Once a circulation becomes established, the engineered part can be transferred by joining the implanted blood vessels to corresponding ones at the recipient site. We have discovered that new tissue will grow out of a surgically created blood vessel loop placed in a cylindrical plastic chamber filled with a scaffold made of naturally occurring structural molecules. In Part 1 of this project, it is planned to optimise the rate of new vascularised tissue growth through the addition to the growth chamber of various biodegradable scaffolds. In Part 2, we aim to produce fat by 3 possible methods using: (a) cells from the rat scrotum, (b) skeletal muscle separated from its blood supply for 24 hours, or (c) bone marrow-derived stem cells, as well as bone from stem cells of the same source. In Part 3, vascularised bone, fat and connective tissue, as produced in Part 2, will be microsurgically transferred to another site in the body to study the short-term (4 weeks) and long-term (12 weeks) survival and changes (if any) in these tissues. These unique methods are currently being patented. This technology introduces the possibility of producing tailor-made tissues of specific composition to suit the repair of a particular tissue type, for example, (1) myocutaneous flaps to replace tissue loss following traumatic injury, (2) bone for nose, digit or joint repair, and (3) fat to provide a bulky flap as required in contour defects of the face and neck. The development of new growth chambers of appropriate body shapes (eg. ears, noses, etc) has significant commercial implications.