Abstract
Purpose The benefit of decellularized native tissues for study of regeneration has been widely demonstrated. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of a novel perfusion decellularization model for combined heart-lung tissue engineering. Methods and Materials Heart and Lung from 3-month-old male Sprague-Dawley rats were excised en bloc with trachea. After preparation, native heart-lung scaffolds were mounted and perfused with an ionic detergent-based perfusion protocol. Analysis of decellularization success was performed with histology and quantitative analysis of collagen and elastin content. Data regarding the presence of residual DNA within the decellularized heart-lung scaffolds was measured with spectrophotometric quantification and compared to controls. Results The decellularization method resulted in full removal of native cells while the mechanical stability and the original composition with micro- and macroarchitecture of the heart-lung neoscaffolds was successfully maintained. As a first step, the resulting neoscaffolds could successfully be reseeded with neonatal rat cardiomyocytes, assessing their biocompatibility for three-dimensional in vitro studies. Conclusions Combined heart-lung decellularization can be achieved using the novel method described in this investigation. This work demonstrates the feasibility of producing a decellularized heart-lung scaffold that can be used to study matrix biology and mechanics, independent of the effects of cellular components.
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