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Evaluation Of Chitosan And Collagen As Scaffolding For A Tissue Engineered Aortic Heart Valve, Steven Christopher Waller

Theses and Dissertations

Children born with congenital heart valve defects require open-heart surgery to implant an artificial replacement valve. These valves are unable to grow with the developing child and need replacing every 5 years. Tissue engineered heart valves, capable of growing with the patient, would alleviate the need for repeat surgery. I hypothesize chitosan and collagen possess advantageous qualities as scaffolding for a tissue engineered heart valve. This study evaluated chitosan and collagen hydrogels as potential scaffold materials. Chitosan scaffolds had suitable pore size/distribution and scaffold strength; however, they were unable to sustain cell attachment or viability. Collagen gels were assessed for …