Applications of decellularized extracellular matrix in bone and cartilage tissue engineering

Abstract

Regenerative therapies for bone and cartilage injuries are currently unable to replicate the complex microenvironment of native tissue. There are many tissue engineering approaches attempting to address this issue through the use of synthetic materials. Although synthetic materials can be modified to simulate the mechanical and biochemical properties of the cell microenvironment, they do not mimic in full the multitude of interactions that take place within tissue. Decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM) has been established as a biomaterial that preserves a tissue's native environment, promotes cell proliferation, and provides cues for cell differentiation. The potential of dECM as a therapeutic agent is rising, but there are many limitations of dECM restricting its use. This review discusses the recent progress in the utilization of bone and cartilage dECM through applications as scaffolds, particles, and supplementary factors in bone and cartilage tissue engineering.

Proteins and Peptides as Important Modifiers of the Polymer Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering Applications—A Review

“…It mainly involves chemical and enzymatic lysis of cells and then vascular perfusion in order to remove cell debris. In contrast to physical methods, this procedure seems to be more favorable, because it minimizes the ECM damage [104][105][106]. To date, dECM from heart, lungs, kidneys, urethra, trachea, bones, cartilage, and bladders has been obtained [9,103,[105][106][107][108].…”

“…In contrast to physical methods, this procedure seems to be more favorable, because it minimizes the ECM damage [104][105][106]. To date, dECM from heart, lungs, kidneys, urethra, trachea, bones, cartilage, and bladders has been obtained [9,103,[105][106][107][108]. However, limited number of autologous tissues/organs and risk of infection associated with allogenous as well as xenogenous ones still represent big problems for scientists [109].…”

“…Nevertheless, the procedures necessary for production of cell-derived dECM are usually expensive and time-consuming [9]. Despite all these limitations, dECM derived from tissues/organs as well as cell cultures is successfully used either alone or in combination with polymers [105,106,108,109,112,113].…”

Glycosaminoglycan-Inspired Biomaterials for the Development of Bioactive Hydrogel Networks

“…Native ECM can undergo chemical and/or physical processing to remove all cellular components, while preserving non-cellular components as much as possible, giving rise to decellularized matrices (dECM). Given the tissue-specificity of ECM structure and composition, dECM provide biomaterial platforms that more closely resemble the acellular composition and structure of the native tissue, as compared to other scaffolding materials [219]. Nevertheless, decellularization processes can negatively impact both structural and biochemical features of the final dECM [220,221], and support materials might be needed to restore structural stability.…”

Cartilage tissue engineering for craniofacial reconstruction

“…Chemical methods use acidic/basic conditions or detergents for decellularization. Enzymatic decellularization, using nucleases and proteases, is often performed directly after chemical decellularization to facilitate the removal of residual cellular material from the tissue [43].…”