Vascular Tissue Engineering

An important example of structurally organised tissue is vascular tissue which is distributed throughout the body in the form of a network of capillaries. Although seemingly disorganised, the branching structure of the vascular network is known to follow a fractal geometry. Furthermore the network is ubiquitous to the extent that no cell in the body is more than 100 microns from a blood supply. Infact, it is recognised that any engineered tissue must be provided with an adequate nutrient supply, and several efforts are now being addressed towards the engineering of blood vessels. In terms of complexity at the cellular level, capillaries may be considered as the simplest form of vascular tissue as they possess a single cell type, which makes up the endothelium.