Wound healing potential of scaffolds prepared from porcine jejunum and urinary bladder by a non-detergent/enzymatic method.

Scaffolds prepared using extracellular matrices of mammalian organs/tissues, when used as grafts, have wound healing potential. This paper evaluated the physical properties and in vivo wound healing potential of jejunum-derived scaffold (JDS) and urinary bladder-derived scaffold (UDS) of porcine origin prepared by a non-detergent/enzymatic method. The former had higher flexural rigidity and suture retention strength compared to the latter, but both of them had the essential flexural rigidity and suture retention strength required for skin grafts. Full thickness skin-wounds on rabbit dorsum were treated with these scaffolds and the wound healing ability was compared by studying histomorphology parameters such as re-epithelialisation, collagen deposition, angiogenesis, proliferation of cells, mesenchymal cell infiltration and myofibroblast response. The extent of these reactions was assessed using histomorphometry. The results indicated that both grafts initiated healing faster than those wounds without any graft, as evidenced by the extent of cell proliferation and mesenchymal cell infiltration. The myofibroblast response persisted longer in the non-graft assisted wound healing reaction compared to the healing in the graft assisted wounds. Moreover, the JDS induced higher cell proliferation and greater angiogenesis than UDS probably indicating better healing by the former. The results suggested that JDS and UDS prepared by non-detergent/enzymatic method have potential clinical applications.

Biomaterial properties of cholecyst-derived scaffold recovered by a non-detergent/enzymatic method.

Isolation procedures for the recovery of extracellular matrices (ECMs) from animal organs/tissues that are useful in regenerative medicine involve multiple sequential steps/stages including collection of the source organ at slaughter, their transportation to laboratory, decellularization, decontamination, stabilization, and sterilization. Most of these steps require extensive use of chemicals/reagents/enzymes which may also adversely affect the quality of the scaffold. With an effort to minimize the use of chemicals/reagents/enzymes, while extracting biomaterial-grade ECM from porcine cholecyst (gall bladder), we performed preisolation ex situ incubation of the organ in a stabilizing agent that also caused in situ crosslinking of tissue-components and delaminated the collagen-rich ECM from the tissue-layer beneath the mucosa. The physical, chemical, and biological properties of the isolated scaffolds were similar to that of a commercially available porcine small intestinal submucosa. The cholecyst-derived scaffold not only satisfied preclinical safety-test procedures such as cytotoxicity, local response, and endotoxin load but also showed the potential to promote healing of full-thickness skin wound in a rabbit model. The procedure was also suitable for isolating scaffolds from other hollow organs such as jejunum and urinary bladder. It was concluded that enzyme/detergent treatment may be an avoidable step while isolating biomaterial-grade scaffolds from hollow organs.