Journal of Cell Science & Therapy
Open Access
ISSN: 2157-7013
ISSN: 2157-7013
Beili Zhu
Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Cell Sci Ther
Total atherosclerotic occlusions oft en include signifi cant calcium deposits. Current animal models do not mimic the pathology of gradual occlusion of arteries and lack cell-mediated calcium. Th e primary goal of our project was to esta blish an animal model incorporating these features into chronic total occlusions (CTOs). Here, we took the strategy of placing tissue- engineering scaff olds preloaded with cells in arteries to develop a novel CTO model. Primary human osteoblasts (HOBs) were fi rst cultured in vitro on polycaprolactone (PCL) loaded with TGF-β1 to initiate cellular calcifi cation. Th en, HOB-PCL construct were placed into a rabbit femoral artery for an additional time period. At the time of sacrifi ce, angiograms and gross histology of arteries were examined to confi rm the occlusion of arteries. Fluorescent staining of calcium and Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) evaluated the presence and distribution of calcium inside arteries. Our resul ts showed that rabbit femoral arteries were totally occluded, and calcium was presented at CTO sites. Intriguingly, we observed chronic infl ammatory response and recanalization, indicating that our model exhibited important features of clinical CTO cases. In conclusion, we have successfully establi shed a novel CTO model with cell-mediated calcium in a rabbit femoral artery. Th is model has exciting prospects for the development of new devices and therapies to treat severe atherosclerotic occlusion.
This project describes the work done during Beili Zhu?s Ph.D. studies. She pursues research under the supervision of C. Mauli Agrawal Ph.D. at Department of Biomedical Engineering and Steven R. Bailey M.D. at Department of Cardiology