Autologous fat grafts, which are commonly used for tissue reconstruction, e.g. after breast cancer surgery, are prone to postoperative atrophy and fat absorption. A promising approach to construct more durable tissue substitutes is the use of cell-material constructs containing autologous adult mesenchymal stem cells seeded on three-dimensional (3D) polymer scaffolds mimicking the architecture of the natural extracellular matrix. Our ultimate goal was to pre-vascularize these substitutes. We investigated the possibility of using scaffolds prepared by different methods (centrifugal spinning, lyophilization of polymer blends with the addition of porogens, 3D printing, excimer laser treatment to create honeycomb-like structures), i.e., scaffolds with different mechanical properties and different internal architectures. We searched for a suitable scaffold to form a fat graft that could be fully colonized by human adipose tissue-derived stem cells (ASCs). Finally, by co-culturing ASCs with human endothelial cells, we achieved the formation of pre-vascular structures in the scaffolds, which were further enhanced in a dynamic cell culture system. These constructs are suitable for engineering not only pre-vascularized fat grafts, but also soft tissues in general.

IPHYS contact person: Jana Musílkova, jana.musilkova@fgu.cas.cz