ABSTRACT
Development of clinical-sized three-dimensional (3D) tissue engineering constructs requires an extensive blood vessel network to provide the cells with necessary nutrients and other factors. Hence, vascularization of engineered tissue is an essential step in generating a properly functioning tissue. While the need is clear, the underlying mechanisms of new blood vessel formation and the effects of various factors involved in the processes are far from understood, and insufcient vascularization remains one of the major challenges facing tissue engineering (Serbo and Gerecht, 2013). Over the last two decades, researchers have investigated sophisticated methods for manipulating proangiogenic factors, cells, and scaffold properties in order to overcome this challenge and promote rapid and extensive scaffold vascularization. However, optimizing the chemical, mechanical, and geometrical characteristics of scaffolds for different tissue engineering applications is a complicated and time-consuming task when relying on experimental studies alone.
