Abstract:

Biomaterial scaffolds play an important role in maintaining the viability and biological functions of highly metabolic hepatocytes in liver tissue engineering. One of the major challenges involves building a complex microchannel network inside three-dimensional (3D) scaffolds for efficient mass transportation. Here we presented a biomimetic strategy to generate a mi-crochannel network within porous biomaterial scaffolds by mimicking the vascular tree of rat liver. The typical parameters of the blood vessels were incorporated into the biomimetic design of the microchannel network such as branching angle and diameter. Silk fibroin-gelatin scaffolds with biomimetic vascular tree were fabricated by combining micromolding, freeze drying and 3D rolling techniques. The relationship between the micro-channeled design and flow pattern was revealed by a flow experiment, which indicated that the scaffolds with biomimetic vascular tree exhibited unique capability in improving mass transportation inside the 3D scaffold. The 3D scaffolds, preseeded with primary hepatocytes, were dynamically cultured in a bioreactor system. The results confirmed that the pre-designed biomimetic microchannel network facilitated the generation and expansion of hepatocytes.

Key words: liver tissue engineering, scaffold, biomimetic vascular tree, dynamic culture, hepatocyteansi-language liver tissue engineering, scaffold, biomimetic vascular tree, dynamic culture, hepatocyte