The in vitro construction of a tissue engineered bioprosthetic heart valve

40 heart valve leaflets created in vitro (20 xenograft leaflets using human dermal fibroblasts and bovine aortic endothelial cells; 20 allograft leaflets using sheep myofibroblasts and sheep endothelial cells)

In vitro construction of tissue-engineered heart valve tissue using cardiovascular cells seeded on a synthetic polyglycolic acid (PGA) mesh

Histological evaluation of the constructs (presence of inner core of LDL negative cells and outer endothelial-like cells, factor VIII positivity, completeness of endothelial lining)surrogate