Mahara Atsushi, PhD |National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center Research Institute; Yamaoka Tetsuji, PhD; Yamanaka Hiroki, PhD, MD; Morimoto Naoki, PhD, MD; Ide Junichi, MS
Competition Sponsor: Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development
Awardee Year: 2024
Artificial vascular grafts made of polymeric materials with the inner diameter of 6 mm or larger are used daily in the surgical treatment of vascular diseases and have saved the lives of many patients. In contrast, small-diameter vascular grafts with the inner diameter of 4 mm or less have not been satisfactory for practical use, despite a history of research and development of more than half a century. Our research group focused on the carotid arteryies of the ostrich. They provides decellularized small-diameter artificial blood vessels with good mechanical properties and a shape (inner diameter 2-4 mm, length 60 cm) that can withstand actual clinical use by immobilizing antithrombotic and endothelialization-inducing peptides. Furthermore, as a breakthrough technology for practical use, a special drying process has been established which allows them to be provided to medical institutions at room temperature like conventional synthetic vascular grafts. The first target of this world’s first artificial vascular graft is to avoid lower limb amputation by adapting it to severe lower limb ischemia. It can also be adapted to coronary artery bypass for elderly people and will solve issues directly related to postoperative health and happiness. We have developed a new drying process that preserves the collagen structure of decellularized blood vessels by alcohol treatment. We will evaluate the collagen structure by X-ray structural analysis and assess the structure and performance by preclinical transplantation experiments using miniature pigs, aiming to commercialize the world’s first xenogeneic small-diameter artificial blood vessel.