{"id":84413,"date":"2018-12-16T13:16:26","date_gmt":"2018-12-16T11:16:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/blog\/giving-direction-to-blood-vessels\/"},"modified":"2018-12-16T13:16:26","modified_gmt":"2018-12-16T11:16:26","slug":"giving-direction-to-blood-vessels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/blog\/giving-direction-to-blood-vessels\/","title":{"rendered":"Giving Direction to Blood Vessels"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-family: 'arial black', sans-serif;\"><strong>It\u2019s a Stretch: Giving Direction to Blood Vessels<\/strong><b><br \/>\n<\/b><\/span><b><i><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: 'arial black', sans-serif;\"><em>Scientists from the Technion- Israel Institute of Technology and the Weizmann Institute of Science reveal the mechanical forces that influence the spatial organization of blood vessels<\/em><\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_32848\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32848\" style=\"width: 467px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/2018\/12\/giving-direction-to-blood-vessels\/2wn2nysi\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-32848\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-32848\" src=\"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/2WN2nYSI-1024x682.jpeg\" alt=\"Prof. Shulamit Levenberg\" width=\"467\" height=\"311\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-32848\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Prof. Shulamit Levenberg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>HAIFA, ISRAEL (December 16, 2018) &#8211; Israeli scientists from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and the Weizmann Institute of Science recently combined one group\u2019s expertise in tissue engineering with the other\u2019s expertise in the physics of complex systems to understand in detail how mechanical forces can direct the orientation of developing blood vessels. Their findings, which were published in the scientific journal\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/pubs.acs.org\/doi\/full\/10.1021\/acs.nanolett.8b03373\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/pubs.acs.org\/doi\/full\/10.1021\/acs.nanolett.8b03373&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1545052244180000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFKTCb2TTXWH6qx_2nQoXeZQLie2w\">Nano Letters<\/a>, may advance methods of growing artificial tissue for transplant.<\/p>\n<p>Cells, whether in the body or in lab-grown tissue, constantly interact with the extracellular matrix (ECM) \u2013 a highly complex molecular network that provides structural support for cells. Until recently, scientists had assumed these interactions were primarily biochemical. Researchers have now realized that mechanical interactions \u2013 for example, the ability of cells to sense various properties of the ECM and respond in kind \u2013 also play significant roles in cell development and function.<\/p>\n<p>The present research was led by doctoral student Shira Landau and Prof. Shulamit Levenberg of the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering at the Technion, and doctoral student Avraham Moriel and Prof. Eran Bouchbinder of the Weizmann Institute&#8217;s Chemical and Biological Physics Department, in collaboration with Dr. Ariel Livne, a former postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Molecular Cell Biology at the Weizmann Institute.<\/p>\n<p>One of the scientific challenges to producing artificial biological tissues for transplant is that \u2013 like the real thing \u2013 they must contain a network of blood vessels to ensure a steady supply of oxygen and nutrients. Highly essential to the implant&#8217;s integration and survival is the directional order of this network. In other words, the blood vessels must organize themselves in the same direction.<\/p>\n<p>In Prof. Levenberg&#8217;s laboratory, a platform designed to improve tissue generation and self-organization for transplantation has been developed. The technology is based on three-dimensional scaffolds made of polymers. Biological cells that are essential for the development of blood vessels are seeded on these polymeric scaffolds; studies have proven this technology viable and robust. In a series of studies, she and her team had previously used this platform to examine the mechanical sensitivity of vascular networks. In particular, they noted that mechanical forces have a strong influence on the properties of these networks, especially in the directions in which they grow and develop.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_32850\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32850\" style=\"width: 682px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/2018\/12\/giving-direction-to-blood-vessels\/blood\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-32850\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-32850 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Blood.png\" alt=\"The effect of different external loading conditions on cells and vessels orientation\" width=\"682\" height=\"193\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-32850\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The effect of different external loading conditions on cells and vessels orientation. Endothelial vessels (green) and fibroblasts (red) grown within free-floating, clamped, statically and cyclically stretched scaffolds for 11-14 days. In the free-floating and clamped scaffolds, vessels and cells did not exhibit a distinct global<br \/>orientation, whereas in the statically stretched scaffolds, vessels and cells oriented in parallel to the stretch direction and in the cyclically stretched scaffolds vessels and cells oriented perpendicularly to the stretch direction. Scale bar is 50 \u03bcm.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In 2016, Prof. Levenberg and Dr. Dekel Rosenfeld, then a doctoral student in her lab, showed how an original stretching system, which applied tensile forces to the artificial tissue, affected biological processes in the cells, including differentiation, shape, migration, and organization in the structures \u2013 as well as the geometry of the emerging tissue, its maturity and stability. This earlier study also showed that tensile forces acting on the tissue during development promote the growth of blood vessels with well-defined directionality.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe then wanted to understand how this process works and how to control it,\u201d says Ms. Landau. \u201cProf. Bouchbinder and his colleagues at the Weizmann Institute of Science developed a theory that explains the effects of mechanical forces on individual cells; and together, we expanded this theory to include multicellular tissues.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the new study, the researchers considered two types of stretching forces that can affect the development of blood vessels. These two, known as dynamic-cyclic stretching and static stretching, can lead to the emergence of directional order in vascular networks. The researchers discovered that the biophysical mechanism behind each of these two processes is fundamentally different. \u201cOne significant challenge we faced was to understand the relationship between the complicated biological experiments and the physical theory,&#8221; says Mr. Moriel.<\/p>\n<p>The study led to the establishment of a tensile stretching protocol &#8211; one that allows the controlled generation of optimal tissues, including stable, rich networks in which the blood vessels have a well-defined directional order.<br \/>\nThe researchers believe that these results and insights they provide will advance the possibility of engineering blood vessels in tissue with structures and directionality that may enable their successful transplantation in patients.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s a Stretch: Giving Direction to Blood Vessels Scientists from the Technion- Israel Institute of Technology and the Weizmann Institute of Science reveal the mechanical forces that influence the spatial organization of blood vessels HAIFA, ISRAEL (December 16, 2018) &#8211; Israeli scientists from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and the Weizmann Institute of Science recently&hellip; <a class=\"continue\" href=\"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/blog\/giving-direction-to-blood-vessels\/\">Continue Reading<span> Giving Direction to Blood Vessels<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.4 - 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