Platelet lysate as an autologous alternative for fetal bovine serum in cardiovascular tissue engineering

There is an ongoing search for alternative tissue culture sera to engineer autologous tissues, since use of fetal bovine serum (FBS) is limited under Good Tissue Practice (GTP) guidelines. We compared FBS with human Platelet-lysate (PL) in media for in vitro cell culture. A threefold increase in duplication rate was found when human, saphenous vein-derived myofibroblasts were cultured in PL, while expression of marker proteins (a-smooth muscle actin, vimentin, desmin and non-muscle myosin heavy chain) was similar. Hsp47 mRNA-expression was increased in PL-cells and type III collagen fibers were seen on PL-cell monolayers, but not on cells cultured in FBS. These results imply a more efficient collagen fiber production. We also found higher levels of proteins involved in tissue repair and collagen remodeling, which could explain increased production of proteases and protease inhibitors by PL-cells. Our findings indicate that PL is beneficial because of the increased duplication rate, in addition to the increased matrix production and remodeling. This could lead to production of strong tissue with properly organized collagen fibers, which is important for heart valve tissue engineering

Decreased mechanical properties of heart valve tissue constructs cultured in platelet lysate as compared to fetal bovine serum

In autologous heart valve tissue engineering, there is an ongoing search for alternatives of fetal bovine serum (FBS). Human platelet-lysate (PL) might be a promising substitute. In the present article, we aimed to examine the tissue formation, functionality, and mechanical properties of engineered three-dimensional tissue constructs cultured in PL as a substitute for FBS. Our results show that tissue constructs that were cultured in PL and FBS produce similar amounts of collagen, glycosoaminoglycans, and collagen crosslinks, and that the cellular phenotype remains unchanged. Nevertheless, mechanical testing showed that the ultimate tensile strength in PL constructs was on average approximately three times lower as compared to FBS (0.25 vs. 0.74¿MPa, respectively,