Abstract
As the gap between donors and patients in need of an organ transplant continues to widen, research in regenerative medicine seeks to provide alternative strategies for treatment. One of the most promising techniques for tissue and organ regeneration is decellularization, in which the extracellular matrix (ECM) is isolated from its native cells and genetic material in order to produce a natural scaffold. The ECM, which ideally retains its inherent structural, biochemical, and biomechanical cues, can then be recellularized to produce a functional tissue or organ. While decellularization can be accomplished using chemical and enzymatic, physical, or combinative methods, each strategy has both benefits and drawbacks. The focus of this review is to compare the advantages and disadvantages of these methods in terms of their ability to retain desired ECM characteristics for particular tissues and organs. Additionally, a few applications of constructs engineered using decellularized cell sheets, tissues, and whole organs are discussed.
Highlights
Tissue and organ failure is currently one of the biggest health issues our society faces
The nanotopography of the scaffold plays an important role in cell regulation
An evaluation of these strategies will first focus on the removal of cells and genetic material followed by the maintenance of structural proteins
Summary
Tissue and organ failure is currently one of the biggest health issues our society faces. Synthetic scaffolds are beneficial in that their structure and mechanical properties can be manipulated and controlled with the goal of producing an optimal environment for a particular cell type or cell set. 3D printing in scaffold design allows for the integration of features like vasculature [20, 21] and the control of scaffold architecture [22], using synthetic polymers or bioinks These methods show great promise in their ability to control key properties of scaffolds and to subsequently manipulate cell behavior for tissue engineering. Because many challenges are associated with preparing synthetic scaffolds that recapitulate the complexity of the cell microenvironment, there has been increasing interest in utilizing naturally derived extracellular matrix (ECM) itself This biologic scaffold is obtained through the process of decellularization. Decellularization strategies are evaluated based upon their efficacy in these four areas, in addition to the toxicity and overall efficiency of the technique, followed by a few applications of decellularized ECM
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