Simultaneous intraluminal imaging of tissue autofluorescence and eGFP-labeled cells in engineered vascular grafts inside a bioreactor

The growing demand for tissue engineered vascular grafts (TEVG) motivates the development of optimized fabrication and monitoring procedures. Bioreactors which provide physiologically-relevant conditions are important for improving holistic TEVG properties and performance. Herein we describe a fiber-based intraluminal imaging system that allows for in situ assessment of vascular materials and re-cellularization processes inside a bioreactor by simultaneous and co-registered measurements of endogenous fluorescence lifetime and exogenous marker fluorescence intensity. The lumen of 6 vascular grafts (∼4 mm diameter) were scanned by reciprocally rotating a 41° angle polished multimode optical fiber inside a protective glass tube with outer diameter of 3 mm. Tubular bovine pericardium constructs were recellularized using enhanced Green Fluorescent Protein (eGFP) transfected cells in a custom bioreactor. The imaging system has resolved consistently the cellular autofluorescence from that of tissue matrix in situ based on the lifetime fluorescence properties of endogenous molecular species. The location of the re-cellularized area was validated by the eGFP emission. Current results demonstrate the potential of this system as a valuable tool in tissue engineering for in situ studies of cell-tissue interactions in cylindrical or other 3-dimensional structures.