Patent ID: 7179287

Claim:
A process for producing a tubular tissue graft comprising: providing a tubular tissue having a distal end and a proximal end that is harvested from a donor or produced by a tissue engineering method, wherein the tubular tissue comprises a lumen enclosed by a wall having a basement membrane; perforating the basement membrane, thereby producing a plurality of perforations through the wall; acellularizing or devitalizing the tubular tissue to provide an acellular tubular tissue matrix or a devitalized tubular tissue matrix, wherein the acellularizing or devitalizing comprises inducing flow of an aqueous solution through the perforations in the wall of the tubular tissue; and populating the acellular tissue matrix or the devitalized tissue matrix with at least some viable cells to produce a tissue graft, wherein (1) the acellularizing or devitalizing step and (2) the populating step are performed in a single closed system that comprises a bioreactor, and the distal and the proximal ends of the tubular tissue are secured within the bioreactor, and wherein the tubular tissue graft is capable of withstanding physiological stress and strain conditions present at a site into which the tubular tissue graft is intended to be implanted.