Engineering tissue – Bacterial cellulose as a potential biomaterial

Cardiovascular diseases are still the predominant cause of death among the adult population in the Western world. Diseases such as myocardial infarction and stroke are caused by occluded blood vessels, as a result of atherosclerosis. Severely occluded vessels are preferably replaced with an autologous mammary artery or saphenous vein through by-pass surgery. Autologous replacement vessels are limited since many patients lack suitable vessels due to previous operations or have blood vessels that are inadequate for transplantation. Available synthetic vascular conduits function satisfactorily in large vessels. However, in small blood vessels (