American scientists can 3D-print blood vessels and they show high durability. The study was published in the journal Lab on a Chip recently.

The bold vessels were created by biomedical engineer and project leader, doctor Ali Khademhosseini and his team at Boston Hospital. It is a next step within replicating all sorts of human tissue and organs. The researchers have approached the problem in a complex way involving several layers, vessels were engineered in a fashion conducive to the health of the blood vessel cells, which makes for more long-lasting vessels.

As biomedical engineer and project leader, doctor Ali Khademhosseini explained, “creating artificial blood vessels remains a unique challenge in tissue engineering.

The team was able to construct micro-channel networks that display a range of architectural features. Embedding these networks into different types of gel showed their durability. However, the real magic of science here was the successful growth of endothelial monolayers inside the synthetic channels. The interior walls of blood vessels are lined with a special layer called endothelium, formed out of endothelial cells. The cells perform the key functions of vascular biology by filtering fluids, trafficking hormones, hemostasis and others. Without that layer, the amazing synthetic blood vessels would essentially just be impressively thin tubes.

As Khademhosseini mentioned, "In the future, 3D printing technology may be used to develop transplantable tissues customized to each patient's needs, or be used outside the body to develop drugs that are safe and effective."