Design of a fibrin sheet with a microengineered vascular network for the modular design of engineered myocardium

One of the major challenges facing the design of a functional cardiac tissue patch is the perfusion and adequate delivery of nutrients to metabolically active cells in the construct. Using computational modeling for fluid flow optimization, BioMEMS technology was used to design a branched microvascular network in a thin fibrin scaffold. The branched network within the thin fibrin sheet supported fluid perfusion and it was shown that individual layers within a stacked construct could be perfused discretely. These findings suggest that this fibrin scaffold with a branched microvascular network can be used for the modular design of a multilayered engineered tissue such as a perfused cardiac patch.