IMR Press / FBL / Volume 9 / Issue 3 / DOI: 10.2741/1391

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.

Article
Vascular elastic laminae: anti-inflammatory properties and potential applications to arterial reconstruction
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1 Biomedical Engineering Department, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208-3107, USA
Front. Biosci. (Landmark Ed) 2004, 9(3), 2205–2217; https://doi.org/10.2741/1391
Published: 1 September 2004
Abstract

Biomaterials, including non-biodegradable and biodegradable polymers, and collagen and fibrin matrices, have been used in experimental and clinical arterial reconstruction. While these biomaterials exhibit various characteristics suitable for arterial reconstruction, the patency of biomaterial-based arterial substitutes remains problematic because of inflammation and thrombogenesis. Endothelial cell seeding of biomaterials has been proposed and used for reducing the thrombogenicity of biomaterials. However, difficulties in cell retention hamper the application of such an approach. Although autogenous vein grafts offer satisfactory results, not all patients possess veins available for arterial replacements. Thus, a critical issue in arterial reconstruction is developing arterial substitutes that are inflammation/thrombosis-resistant while possessing the characteristics of natural arteries. Here we show that allogenic vascular elastic laminae exhibit anti-inflammatory properties and may be considered a potential material for arterial reconstruction. In this article, we briefly review the composition, structure, and function of vascular elastic laminae, summarize recent discoveries on the role of elastic laminae in regulating leukocyte adhesion and vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation and migration, and discuss potential applications of allogenic elastic laminae to arterial reconstruction.

Keywords
Monocytes
Thrombosis
Neointima Formation
Vessel
Treatment
Review
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