In vitro comparative assessment of decellularized bovine pericardial patches and commercial bioprosthetic heart valves

Abstract

Notwithstanding their wide exploitation, biological prosthetic heart valves are characterized by limited durability (10-15 years). The treatment of biological tissues with chemical crosslinking agents such as glutaraldehyde accounts for the enhanced risk of structural deterioration associated with the early failure of bioprosthetic valves. To overcome the shortcomings of the currently available solutions, adoption of decellularized biological tissues of animal origin has emerged as a promising approach. The present study aims to assess in vitro cardiovascular scaffolds composed of bovine pericardium decellularized with the novel TRITDOC (TRIton-X100 and TauroDeOxyCholic acid) procedure. The effects of the treatment have been assessed by means of histological, biomolecular, cellular, biochemical and biomechanical analyses. The TRITDOC procedure grants the complete decellularization of bovine pericardial scaffolds while preserving the extracellular matrix architecture and the biomechanical properties. With a dedicated ELISA test, the TRITDOC procedure has been proven to ensure the complete removal of the alphaGal antigen, responsible for hyperacute rejection and for long-term deterioration of xenogenic biomaterials. Static seeding of the acellular pericardial patches with human adipose-derived stem cells resulted in an evenly repopulated scaffold without signs of calcification. The in vitro cyto-/immuno-compatibility response of the TRITDOC-bovine pericardium was compared with glutaraldehyde-treated xenogenic pericardium collected from two bioprosthetic devices currently used in clinical practice: PERIMOUNT MAGNA and TRIFECTA. TRITDOC-bovine pericardium exhibited lower complement activation, lower cytotoxicity and a lower tendency to secrete pro-inflammatory cytokines compared to the tested commercial bioprostheses. Therefore, TRITDOC-decellularized pericardium could be considered as possible candidate material for the production of prosthetic heart valves.

A Comprehensive Comparison of Bovine and Porcine Decellularized Pericardia: New Insights for Surgical Applications

“…As we and other authors demonstrated [12][13][14][15][16], the decellularization of pericardium might be applied to produce biological scaffolds with improved immunocompatibility and unvaried biological and biomechanical properties with respect to native tissues. As an example, the clinical application of human acellular allogeneic pericardium as a patch during outflow tract reconstruction was effective in the midterm [17].…”

In vitro evaluation of bovine pericardium after a soft decellularization approach for use in tissue engineering

“…Another important feature of decellularization is the fact that it reduces antigenicity, especially of the xenografts . A range of protocols have been explored in decellularized BP using different substances, concentrations, and exposure times . Although many of these protocols were efficient in removing cell content, inadequate elimination of the xenoantigen alpha‐gal (Galα1‐3Galβ1‐(3)4GlcNAc‐R) was still a major obstacle .…”

Aortic valve cell seeding into decellularized animal pericardium by perfusion-assisted bioreactor

“…In these protocols, pericardium is treated with hypotonic buffers and ionic or nonionic detergents, such as SDS and Triton X‐100 (Korossis et al, ; Mirsadraee et al, , ). Although these methods maintain a relatively good mechanical performance, abolish xenoantigen content (Boer et al, ; Gardin et al, ; Ghodsizad et al, ; Roosens et al, ; Wong, Wong, Athanasiou, & Griffiths, ), and reduce tissue immunogenicity (Aguiari et al, ; Wong, Wong, Vapniarsky, & Griffiths, ), thus far, there has been a limited employment of this approach at an industrial scale for preparation of valve replacement devices (Horke, ).…”