Replacement Organs and Tissues
Engineering a Heart Valve
The scientists at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine are currently investigating the possibility of engineering heart valves in the laboratory that will be perfect matches for patients needing valve replacement surgery.
This process begins with a pig valve, which, today, is commonly used to replace human heart valves. Our goal is to remove all cells from the valve, and replace them with a patient's own cells. Removal of the original cells leaves the basic structure, or skeleton of the valve, which consist mainly of collagen and elastin.
The next step is to place a patient's own cells onto the scaffold. These cells can be obtained from a blood sample and multiplied in the laboratory. Once a valve has enough cells, it would be placed in a heart valve "bioreactor," equipment that pre-conditions or “exercises” it so it would develop the properties it needs to function in the body. The bioreactor has computer-controlled fluid flow, mimicking the natural function in the human heart valve.
Watch a video of a valve being pre-conditioned in a bioreactor:
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Next Project
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