Abstract
Lung transplantation is one of the most difficult and delicate procedures among organ transplants. For the success of the procedure and survival of the new organ, the sterilization step for acellular lungs prior to recellularization is important to ensure that they are free of any risk of transmitting infections from the donor to the recipient subject. However, there are no available information concerning the lung mechanical parameters after sterilizing photodynamic therapy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the extracellular matrix (ECM) and lung mechanical parameters of decellularized lungs undergoing sterilizing photodynamic therapy (PDT). Besides, we also analyzed the lung after controlled infection with C. albicans in order to evaluate the effectiveness of PDT. The lung mechanical evaluation parameters, resistance ( R L ) and elastance ( E L ), exhibited no significant differences between groups. In addition, there were no PDT-induced changes in lung properties, with maintenance of the viscoelastic behavior of the lung scaffold after 1 h exposure to PDT. The ECM components remained virtually unchanged in the acellular lungs of both groups. We also showed that there was a reduction in fungal infection population after 45 minutes of PDT. However, more studies should be performed to establish and verify the effectiveness of PDT as a possible means for sterilizing lung scaffolds. This manuscript was presented as a master thesis of Nadua Apostólico at the postgraduate program in rehabilitation sciences, University Nove de Julho—UNINOVE.
Highlights
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), organ transplantation is frequently the only treatment for end-state organ failure, such as liver, lung, and heart failure
This study was divided into two phases: phase 1—decellularized mice lungs were mechanically evaluated and the extracellular matrix morphology was assessed before and after photodynamic therapy (PDT) and phase 2—decellularized mice lungs experimentally contaminated with C. albicans (ATCC 90028) were submitted to PDT; microbiological analyses were performed to evaluate the efficacy of PDT on C. albicans decontamination (Figure 1)
Pulmonary mechanics were evaluated in all 12 mice lung scaffolds divided in two groups: the control (n = 6) administered 1 mL phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and GPpIX (n = 6) injected with 1 mL Protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) in the lungs, both of which were irradiated with a 660 nm lightemitting diode (LED)
Summary
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), organ transplantation is frequently the only treatment for end-state organ failure, such as liver, lung, and heart failure. As a biomaterial, all implanted or transplanted material from human origin presents serious risks of several disease transmissions. The extremely low availability of organ/tissue donors is the most important restriction for such procedures all over the world. In this scenario, tissue engineering has emerged as an alternative that is aimed at developing functional tissue substitutes with the goal of improving health and quality of life in terminal patients. Tissue engineering has the specific target of promoting regeneration of structures and functions of tissues/organs compromised by disease or surgery. Research in the field of lung bioengineering has been active in recent years due to the lack of viable lungs designated to transplant and the reduced long-term patient survival after transplantation [1, 2]
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