Tissue-engineered constructs

A method of producing a tubular construct comprising:

• (a) providing a tubular biodegradable polyglycolic acid construct having an inner diameter of about 3 mm to about 6 mm,
• (b) seeding human cells at passage 6 or less on the tubular biodegradable polyglycolic acid construct,
• (c) culturing the cells under conditions such that the cells secrete extracellular matrix proteins on the tubular biodegradable polyglycolic acid construct,
• (d) decellularizing the construct in step (c) such that the construct is substantially acellular comprising less than 5% intact cells and wherein the construct is intimal hyperplasia and calcification resistant, and
• (e) degrading the polyglycolic acid construct in step (c) such that the polyglycolic acid comprises less than 33% of the cross-sectional area of said construct, and wherein the construct has a extracellular matrix protein thickness greater than about 200 μm at the thinnest portion of the construct,
• thereby producing a decellularized tubular construct.

A tissue-engineered vascular conduit, comprising:

• a tubular construct, comprising:
• an internal diameter of between 3 mm and 20 mm;
• a length between 1 cm and 100 cm;
• a thickness greater than 200 μm at the thinnest portion of the tubular construct;
• less than 5% intact cells;
• and
• human extracellular matrix proteins expressed by human cells during culture in culture medium comprising human serum, the expressed human extracellular matrix proteins comprising hydroxyproline at >60 μg/mg dry weight.