Frontiers in Bioscience-Landmark (FBL) is published by IMR Press from Volume 26 Issue 5 (2021). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with Frontiers in Bioscience.
Cardiovascular disease remains the number one cause of death in the United States. Most current surgical procedures to alleviate this disease rely on the availability of suitable small diameter vascular grafts, which are constrained by several limitations. Tissue engineering brings new hope to this field, but still faces many challenges. This review focuses on the molecular aspects of the different components of vascular tissue engineering. The topics addressed include the cell type, extracellular matrix, and physical and biochemical stimulation with respect to their role in the development of a tissue engineered vascular graft.