Micro and nanotechnologies in heart valve tissue engineering

Due to the increased morbidity and mortality resulting from heart valve diseases, there is a growing demand for off-the-shelf implantable tissue engineered heart valves (TEHVs). Despite the significant progress in recent years in improving the design and performance of TEHV constructs, viable and functional human implantable TEHV constructs have remained elusive. The recent advances in micro and nanoscale technologies including the microfabrication, nano-microfiber based scaffolds preparation, 3D cell encapsulated hydrogels preparation, microfluidic, micro-bioreactors, nano-microscale biosensors as well as the computational methods and models for simulation of biological tissues have increased the potential for realizing viable, functional and implantable TEHV constructs. In this review, we aim to present an overview of the importance and recent advances in micro and nano-scale technologies for the development of TEHV constructs. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.