title: Base structure consisting of an endothelialized vascular-tree network and hepatocytes for whole liver engineering.
abstract: Reconstructed liver has been desired as a liver substitute for transplantation. However, reconstruction of a whole liver has not been achieved because construction of a vascular network at an organ scale is very difficult. We focused on decellularized liver (DC-liver) as an artificial scaffold for the construction of a hierarchical vascular network. In this study, we obtained DC-liver and the tubular network structure in which both portal vein and hepatic vein systems remained intact. Furthermore, endothelialization of the tubular structure in DC-liver was achieved, which prevented blood leakage from the tubular structure. In addition, hepatocytes suspended in a collagen sol were injected from the surroundings using a syringe as a suitable procedure for liver cell inoculation. In summary, we developed a base structure consisting of an endothelialized vascular-tree network and hepatocytes for whole liver engineering.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Graduate School, Kyushu University, 744 Motooka, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan. Electronic address: nana.shirakigawa@kyudai.jp.
authors.forename: Nana
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shirakigawa
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takei
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ijima
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003094:Collagen; D016319:Corrosion Casting; D004727:Endothelium / Q000166:cytology; D006503:Hepatic Veins / Q000502:physiology; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000166:cytology*; D008099:Liver / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000166:cytology*; D019164:Liver, Artificial; D008297:Male; D011169:Portal Vein / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds
chemical_list: D003094:Collagen
keywords: Decellularized liver; Endothelialization; Hepatocyte; Liver tissue engineering; Vascular-tree network