Optimal planar flow network designs for tissue engineered constructs withbuilt-in vasculature
Abstract Convective delivery of nutrients is important to enhance mass transportwithin tissue engineered (TE) products. Depending on the target tissue, an ideal TE product willhave an integrated microvasculature that will eliminate mass transport limitations that can occurduring product growth in vitro and integration in vivo. A synthetic approach to developmicrovasculature involves development of network designs with efficient mass transfercharacteristics. In this paper, utilizing a planar bifurcating network as a basis, we develop anapproach to design optimal flow networks that have maximum mass transport efficiency for a givenpressure drop. We formulated the optimization problem for a TE skin product, incorporating two typesof duct flow, rectangular and square, and solved using a generalized reduced gradient algorithm.Under the conditions of this study, we found that rectangular ducts have superior mass transportcharacteristics than square ducts. Microvascular area per volume values obtained in this work aresignificantly greater than those reported in the literature. We discuss the effect of networkvariables such as porosity and generations on the optimal designs. This research forms theengineering basis for the rational development of TE products with built-in microvasculature andwill pave the way to design complex flow networks with optimal mass transfer characteristics.
Keywords Microcirculation; Models, Biological
Annals of Biomedical Engineering
0090-6964, Volume 35, Issue 3, 2007, Pages 3-347
