Genetics & Tissue Engineering of Heart Valve

The incidence and prevalence of heart valve disease is increasing worldwide and the number of heart valve replacements is expected to increase significantly in the future. By mimicking the main tissue structures and properties of human heart value, tissue engineering offers new options for the replacements. Applying an appropriate scaffold in fabricating tissue engineered heart valves (TEHVs) is of importance since it affects the secretion of the main extracellular matrix (ECM) components, collagen 1 and elastin, which are crucial for providing the mechanical, elastic and tensile strength of TEHVs. The VICs-encapsulated composite scaffold was observed to be more inductive to ECM secretion over the PGS-PCL-only and hydrogel-only scaffolds. This composite scaffold can serve as a three-dimensional structure model for heart valve tissue engineering with the capability of providing the necessary mechanical-properties such as, elasticity and tensile strength and the ability to grow, repair and be remodelled as a tissue.