[Frontiers in Bioscience 10, 768-789, January 1, 2005] 768 MOLECULAR ASPECTS OF VASCULAR TISSUE ENGINEERING

1. Abstract 2. Introduction 2.1. Clinical need for vascular tissue engineering 2.1.1.Cardiovascular disease 2.1.2. End stage renal disease 3.1.3. Need for a new graft material 2.2. Current issues in vascular tissue engineering 2.2.1. Cell source 2.2.2. Scaffolds 2.2.3. Mechanical stimulation 2.2.4. Biochemical stimulation 3. Cellular constituents for vascular tissue engineering 3.1. Terminally differentiated cells 3.1.1. Smooth muscle cells 3.1.2. Endothelial cells 3.1.3. Fibroblasts 3.2. Progenitor cells 4. Physical components of vascular tissue engineering 4.1. Chemical and physical implications of the matrix 4.2. Mechanical stimulation 5. Biochemical factors in vascular tissue engineering 5.1. Basic fibroblastic growth factor 5.2. Platelet derived growth factor 5.3. Transforming growth factor beta 5.4. Insulin-like growth factor 5.5. Vascular endothelial growth factor 6. Conclusions 7. Acknowledgements 8. References