Fig. 1A–F.

Surgical technique for implantation and retrieval of the bioreactor. (A) A midline ventral incision is made in the rat abdomen. (B) The superficial inferior epigastric artery and vein are isolated and ligated. (C) The pedicle is threaded through the bioreactor (coral cylinder ± soak loaded with bone morphogenetic protein 2 and encased within plastic tubing). (D) At 6 weeks, the bioreactor is harvested. (E) The pedicle is dissected and transected to ensure pulsatile bleeding. (F) The coral is retrieved. Vascularized scaffolds show obvious tissue in-growth as compared with controls.