De-Endothelialized Aortic Homografts: A Promising Scaffold Material for Tissue-Engineered Heart Valves

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate the feasibility of de-endothelialized aortic homografts as a scaffold for tissue-engineered heart valves. Aortic homografts obtained from donor rabbits were treated either with collagenase to eliminate endotheliocytes or with the enzyme-detergent-nuclease method to remove all cell components. Then biomechanical properties of fresh, de-endothelialized and acellular homografts were investigated comparatively. The inflammation potential and immunogenicity were also assessed after allogenic transplantation. Expression of immune indices and inflammatory infiltration in de-endothelialized and acellular homografts were much weaker than in the controls, and no significant difference was observed between treated groups. However, heat shrinkage temperature, tensile strength and broken extension rate of acellular homografts decreased significantly compared to de-endothelialized ones. It is concluded that both de-endothelialization and thorough decellularization could reduce the immunogenicity and inflammation potential significantly, but the de-endothelialized scaffold retained better structural strength. The de-endothelialized aortic homograft might be a promising scaffold for tissue-engineered heart valves.

Effect of intracellular uptake of nanoparticle-encapsulated trehalose on the hemocompatibility of allogeneic valves in the VS83 vitrification protocol

“…Immunohistochemistry analysis was done as previously described by Jing et al, and Jammal et al 27,28 Briefly, the samples were fixed on the slide, sectioned, stained with a primary antibody, counterstained with secondary antibody, dehydrated, hyalinized, and the slides were sealed. For the staining of both IL-10 and TNFa, the primary and secondary antibody titer was 1:200 and 1:50, respectively.…”