Establishment of Vasculature in Hyper-Crosslinked Carbohydrate Polymer as Scaffolding for Tissue Engineering and Regeneration

Vascularization is one of the key components of tissue engineering and must accompany the ingrowth of new tissues to establish an environment conducive to repair and regeneration of damaged tissue. The overarching objective of this study was to investigate whether the hyper-crosslinked carbohydrate polymer (HCCP) could promote the establishment of new vasculature compared to hydroxyapatite/beta-tricalcium phosphate (HA/β-TCP), which is widely used in orthopedic procedures. Sprague Dawley rats (n = 12) were implanted subcutaneously with HCCP or HA/β-TCP and evaluated histologically for the ingrowth of new vasculature at 3, 14, and 28 days post-implantation. HCCP showed significantly greater levels of vascularization when compared to HA/β-TCP at all time points evaluated (p < 0.05). HA/β-TCP showed transient inflammation at 14 days post-implantation, whereas minimal immune activities were noted in HCCP. These findings suggest that HCCP promotes the establishment of new vasculature without a significant immune response.