Methods of generating small-diameter tissue engineered blood vessels

A method of generating small-diameter blood vessels, the method comprising:

• injecting a collagen gel into a mold aligned coaxially around a silicon tube, resulting in a collagen-coated tube;
• securing the collagen-coated tube to a silicon ring adhered to a culture dish;
• resuspending a number of cells in a growth medium to create a suspension;
• adding an amount of the suspension to the center of the silicon ring;
• inverting the culture dish for a first period of time, such that the suspension comes in contact with the collagen-coated tube, resulting in a seeded tube;
• turning the culture dish upright;
• rinsing the seeded tube at least twice with an amount of saline;
• adding a second amount of the growth medium to the seeded tube;
• incubating the seeded tube for a second period of time, resulting in a tissue-engineered blood vessel;
• and
• removing the tissue engineered blood vessel from the silicon ring.