ABSTRACT
Heart valve disease is a serious and growing public health problem for which prosthetic replacement is most commonly indicated. Current prosthetic devices are inadequate for younger adults and growing children. Tissue engineering is an alternative therapeutic strategy with the potential to provide a living valve replacement capable of integration with host tissue and growth. This chapter briefly reviews the functional characteristics of the aortic valve and roles of valve endothelial and interstitial cells. Then it focuses on the principles of tissue-engineered heart valve (TEHV) highlighting scaffold fabrication/process, cell sources, dynamic culture systems, and in vivo animal models. It presents some ongoing challenges in engineering trileaflet semilunar valves. The chapter provides an overview of recent trends in understanding and incorporating multiscale complexity within engineered semilunar heart valves and highlights the future directions of TEHV.
