Fig. 1.

a Experimental setup and micro CT analysis. An arteriovenous shunt is microsurgically created on a rat’s hind limb by anastomosing a saphenous vein graft (green) from the contralateral leg between saphenous artery (red) and vein (blue). b The AV shunt is placed around four pins (P) for stabilization within a Teflon chamber (C). Two layers of acellular dermal substitute (ADS) are placed below and above the vascular construct (upper layer not shown). A saphenous artery, V saphenous vein, VG vein graft. c Analysis of an explanted AV shunt on postoperative day 15 by micro-computed tomography revealed a dense microvascular sprouting from the shunt vessels