Patent ID: 9556414
Date: 2017-01-31
CPC Classifications: A61F,A61L,B29C,B29K,B29L,C12N,Y10T

Claim:
1. A method of producing a tubular construct comprising: (a) providing a tubular biodegradable polyglycolic acid (PGA) construct having an inner diameter of about 3 mm to about 6 mm, wherein the tubular PGA construct comprises entangled PGA fibers, wherein the density of the PGA is about 45 mg/cc to about 75 mg/cc, and wherein said density is uniform across the entire tubular PGA construct, (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, wherein the cells are cultured in medium comprising about 11% to about 30% human serum for the first 2-6 weeks of culture and in medium comprising about 1% to about 10% human serum for at least an additional 4 weeks, (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 an extracellular matrix protein thickness greater than about 200 μm at the thinnest portion of the construct, thereby producing a decellularized tubular construct.