Issue 9, 2021

Development of novel apoptosis-assisted lung tissue decellularization methods

Abstract

Decellularized tissues hold great potential for both regenerative medicine and disease modeling applications. The acellular extracellular matrix (ECM)-enriched scaffolds can be recellularized with patient-derived cells prior to transplantation, or digested to create thermally-gelling ECM hydrogels for 3D cell culture. Current methods of decellularization clear cellular components using detergents, which can result in loss of ECM proteins and tissue architectural integrity. Recently, an alternative approach utilizing apoptosis to decellularize excised murine sciatic nerves resulted in superior ECM preservation, cell removal, and immune tolerance in vivo. However, this apoptosis-assisted decellularization approach has not been optimized for other tissues with a more complex geometry, such as lungs. To this end, we developed an apoptosis-assisted lung tissue decellularization method using a combination of camptothecin and sulfobetaine-10 (SB-10) to induce apoptosis and facilitate gentle and effective removal of cell debris, respectively. Importantly, combination of the two agents resulted in superior cell removal and ECM preservation compared to either of the treatments alone, presumably because of pulmonary surfactants. In addition, our method was superior in cell removal compared to a previously established detergent-based decellularization protocol. Furthermore, thermally-gelling lung ECM hydrogels supported high viability of rat lung epithelial cells for up to 2 weeks in culture. This work demonstrates that apoptosis-based lung tissue decellularization is a superior technique that warrants further utilization for both regenerative medicine and disease modeling purposes.

Graphical abstract: Development of novel apoptosis-assisted lung tissue decellularization methods

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
09 Jan 2021
Accepted
21 Mar 2021
First published
30 Mar 2021

Biomater. Sci., 2021,9, 3485-3498

Author version available

Development of novel apoptosis-assisted lung tissue decellularization methods

Y. H. Song, M. A. Maynes, N. Hlavac, D. Visosevic, K. O. Daramola, S. L. Porvasnik and C. E. Schmidt, Biomater. Sci., 2021, 9, 3485 DOI: 10.1039/D1BM00032B

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