The Technology
Tissue engineering holds enormous potential to replace or restore the function of damaged tissues. However, the most successful applications have been limited to thin avascular tissues such as skin and cartilage in which delivery of nutrients and oxygen relies on passive diffusion through the construct. After transplantation, the engineered tissue is prone to ischemia and host blood supply is not adequate to allow graft viability, mainly in the first days after transplantation. Therefore, it is proposed that a functional vascular network must be generated to deliver blood quickly upon implantation. The new invention is focus on seeding vascular cells, fibroblasts and muscle cells into Fibrin matrix composed of two clinically approved materilas: Bio-Active Component (BAC2) and Thrombin. Mixture of those two materials results in formation of 3-dimensional Fibrin mesh. Fibrin is the main component in blood coagulation, and it is related to platelet adhesion and to induction of angiogenesis. The Fibrin gel allows to minimize cells lost during the seeding procedure and to induce vascularization.
Advantages
- Fibrin gel as a cell supporting matrix for cell’s seeding within PLLA/PLGA spoge: the fibrin gel allows minimizing cells lost during the seeding procedure; provide biological cross-talk with cells and stimulation of angiogenesis in-vivo
- Fibrin gel as a cell encupsolating material for the formation of a 3-dimentional vascularized tissue: mixture of BAC2 and Thrombin in various concentrations allows to control the mechnical environment and the micro-environment which cells are exposed to. Such variations in the 3-dimentional environment affect tissue development and vascular network formation
- Culture of multiple cell types, allows to mimic the native cellular environment, provide the adaque interactions between cells and result in increased maturation, differentiation and vascularization of the construct
Applications and Opportunities
- The fibrin gel alone or in combination with PLLA/PLGA sponge can serve as a supporting 3-dimentional matrix for the formation of various engineered tissues in-vitro as well for the integration of vascular network within the engineered tissue of choice.
- Fibrin matrix as a cell carrier for direct injection of cells.
Business Development Contacts