This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Laflamme, K. Articles by Germain, L. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Laflamme, K. Articles by Germain, L. Pubmed/NCBI databases Substance via MeSH Related Collections Contractile function CV surgery: transplantation, ventricular assistance, cardiomyopathy Receptor pharmacology

(Circulation. 2005;111:459-464.)
© 2005 American Heart Association, Inc.

Vascular Medicine

Tissue-Engineered Human Vascular Media With a Functional Endothelin System

Karina Laflamme, MSc; Charles J. Roberge, PhD; Julie Labonté, MSc; Stéphanie Pouliot, DEC; Pédro D’Orléans-Juste, PhD; François A. Auger, MD, FRCP; Lucie Germain, PhD

From the Laboratoire d’Organogénèse Expérimentale/LOEX, Hôpital Saint-Sacrement du CHA, and Department of Surgery, Laval University, Québec, PQ, Canada (K.L., C.J.R., F.A.A., L.G., S.P.), and Institute of Pharmacology, Medical School, Sherbrooke University, Sherbrooke, PQ, Canada (J.L., P.D.J.).

Correspondence to Dr Lucie Germain, Laboratoire d’Organogénèse Expérimentale, Hôpital du Saint-Sacrement du CHA, 1050 Chemin Ste-Foy, Québec, Qc, Canada G1S-4L8. E-mail lucie.germain{at}chg.ulaval.ca

Received September 16, 2004; accepted October 20, 2004.

Background— Cardiovascular diseases remain a major cause of death and disability in the Western world. Among the various approaches adopted to counteract the morbidity associated with these diseases, surgical procedures and cardiac and vascular xenotransplantations or allotransplantations are routinely performed. The suitable vascular graft would be as close as possible to the native and healthy vessel composed exclusively of human components provided by the patient and would adapt to the donor’s hemodynamics. We have developed such a tissue-engineered human blood vessel reconstructed with human cells. Because endothelin is the most potent vasopressor known to date, we were interested in investigating the functionality of the endothelinergic system in our reconstructed human blood vessel.

Methods and Results— Vasoconstriction studies were performed with nonselective and selective agonists and antagonists to demonstrate that ET_A receptors were present and functional in tissue-engineered human vascular media constructed with the self-assembly method. Reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction studies demonstrated that mRNA of the ET_A but not the ET_B receptor was present in these human tissue–engineered blood vessels. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the endothelin-converting enzyme, the main enzyme responsible for the formation of the biologically active endothelin peptides, was present and functional in these same bioengineered vascular media.

Conclusions— Our results suggest that the media component of our tissue-engineered blood vessel has the potential of controlling vascular resistance via the presence of functional endothelin ET_A receptors and endothelin-converting enzyme.

Key Words: endothelin • muscle contraction • myocytes, smooth muscle

This article has been cited by other articles:

				P.-L. Tremblay, J. Huot, and F. A. Auger Mechanisms by which E-Selectin Regulates Diapedesis of Colon Cancer Cells under Flow Conditions Cancer Res., July 1, 2008; 68(13): 5167 - 5176. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				P. J. Pagano and D. D. Gutterman The adventitia: The outs and ins of vascular disease Cardiovasc Res, September 1, 2007; 75(4): 636 - 639. [Full Text] [PDF]

				F. A. Auger, P. D'Orleans-Juste, and L. Germain Adventitia contribution to vascular contraction: Hints provided by tissue-engineered substitutes Cardiovasc Res, September 1, 2007; 75(4): 669 - 678. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. Laflamme, C. J. Roberge, G. Grenier, M. Remy-Zolghadri, S. Pouliot, K. Baker, R. Labbe, P. D'Orleans-Juste, F. A. Auger, and L. Germain Adventitia contribution in vascular tone: insights from adventitia-derived cells in a tissue-engineered human blood vessel FASEB J, June 1, 2006; 20(8): 1245 - 1247. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]