(2g) Generation of Endothelialized Vascular Networks in Biodegradable Silk Fibroin Scaffolds

Engineered tissues can be used in wound and burn repair as well as cartilage replacement. However, in vitro development of vasculature for such tissues has historically limited the capabilities of engineering complex tissues and organs. Vascular networks must be located within 100-200 µm of highly metabolic organs such as the heart, lung, and liver. By creating a BioMicroElectroMechanical systems (BioMEMS) microfluidic device made, this can be facilitated. This device is fabricated from an FDA approved material, silk fibroin (SF), derived from the Bombyx mori (B. mori) silk worm. The biodegradable SF is a non-inflammatory, non-immunogenic, high strength biomaterial. By integrating a three dimensional scaffold with a microvascular network, the necessary proximity to organs and tissues can be achieved to transport the required nutrients to a specific location. In this work, fabricated devices were seeded with human dermal microvascular endothelial cells (HDMVECs) at a concentration of 1 X 106 cells/mL and incubated at 37°C and 5% CO2. Supplemented media was perfused at a rate of 1 µL/min after a static attachment period of 16 hours. Cells were observed as attached and perfusing 2 and 6 days post perfusion. These devices show the potential for growth of a confluent layer of cells within the device. Ultimately this device can be integrated into a stacked co-culture system that will be tailored with organ-specific cell types on the interior and exterior of the scaffold.