Determining the Wound Closure Capabilities of a Biological Engineered Blood Vessel for HD Access

End stage renal disease (ESRD) is a prominent chronic condition with dialysis as a primary treatment option. Dialysis necessitates implementation of an access point, with the gold standard being an AV fistula which possesses multiple shortcomings. Alternative access points, namely synthetic grafts, do not allow wound healing characteristics. This work aims to explore how a tissue engineered vascular graft (TEVG) may be able to address these issues by allowing a long-term access point for HD that can close puncture wounds. The effects of growth factors on our cells were tested preliminarily by means of a scratch assay on plates of human patient derived dermal fibroblasts (pt-fibs). The defects were monitored with images and RNA extracted at each timepoint for PCR testing of COL1A1 and TGFβ-1 expression. The TEVG was constructed based upon our laboratory’s protocol and was punctured and imaged at 24-hour intervals for 5 days. The scratch assay demonstrated an increase in wound closure with growth factor. The expression of COL1A1 and TGFβ-1 increased over time for fibroblasts without growth factor, whereas decreased slightly in expression over time with GF1 applied, supporting increased wound healing capabilities with growth factor. The preliminary TEGV puncture test did not show significant changes in wound closure over 5 days and further exploration delving into the use of GF1 with our TEVGs will be conducted. This work will yield a novel alternative to synthetic grafts with superior biological regenerative properties working towards the improvement of access points for those undergoing dialysis.