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Engineering of vascularized adipose constructs

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Abstract

Adipose tissue engineering offers a promising alternative to the current surgical techniques for the treatment of soft tissue defects. It is a challenge to find the appropriate scaffold that not only represents a suitable environment for cells but also allows fabrication of customized tissue constructs, particularly in breast surgery. We investigated two different scaffolds for their potential use in adipose tissue regeneration. Sponge-like polyurethane scaffolds were prepared by mold casting with methylal as foaming agent, whereas polycaprolactone scaffolds with highly regular stacked-fiber architecture were fabricated with fused deposition modeling. Both scaffold types were seeded with human adipose tissue-derived precursor cells, cultured and implanted in nude mice using a femoral arteriovenous flow-through vessel loop for angiogenesis. In vitro, cells attached to both scaffolds and differentiated into adipocytes. In vivo, angiogenesis and adipose tissue formation were observed throughout both constructs after 2 and 4 weeks, with angiogenesis being comparable in seeded and unseeded constructs. Fibrous tissue formation and adipogenesis were more pronounced on polyurethane foam scaffolds than on polycaprolactone prototyped scaffolds. In conclusion, both scaffold designs can be effectively used for adipose tissue engineering.

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Acknowledgements

This work is part of the MD thesis of Paul Wiggenhauser. We thank Professor Dietmar W. Hutmacher for critically reviewing the manuscript and Dr. Hinrich Wiese and Polymaterials AG for generously providing PU foam scaffolds.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department for Plastic and Hand Surgery, Klinikum Rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Ismaninger Straße 22, 81675, Munich, Germany

    Paul S. Wiggenhauser, Daniel F. Müller, José T. Egaña, Ursula Hopfner, Hans G. Machens & Jan T. Schantz

  2. Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, 60 Musk Ave, Kelvin Grove, QLD, 4059, Australia

    Ferry P. W. Melchels

  3. Department for Ear-Nose-Throat, Klinikum Rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Ismaninger Straße 22, 81675, Munich, Germany

    Katharina Storck, Helena Mayer, Peter Leuthner, Daniel Skodacek & Rainer Staudenmaier

Authors
  1. Paul S. Wiggenhauser
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  2. Daniel F. Müller
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  3. Ferry P. W. Melchels
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  4. José T. Egaña
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  6. Helena Mayer
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  7. Peter Leuthner
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  8. Daniel Skodacek
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  9. Ursula Hopfner
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  10. Hans G. Machens
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  11. Rainer Staudenmaier
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  12. Jan T. Schantz
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Ferry P. W. Melchels or Jan T. Schantz.

Additional information

This study was supported by a grant of the Bavarian Research Foundation to R. Staudenmaier, MD.

Paul S. Wiggenhauser and D. F. Müller are equally contributing authors

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Wiggenhauser, P.S., Müller, D.F., Melchels, F.P.W. et al. Engineering of vascularized adipose constructs. Cell Tissue Res 347, 747–757 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00441-011-1226-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00441-011-1226-2

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