title: Fabrication of a biodegradable xenoantigen-free rat liver scaffold for potential drug screening applications.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The increasing market in biological pharmaceuticals raises the demand for human test systems. Although 2-dimensional (2D) models are mostly used for these purposes, these models not mimic responses of 3-dimensional (3D) native tissue.
  
  
  METHODS
  After generation of a rat liver scaffold using 0.1% sodium dodecyl sulfate, we characterized the histology, blood vessel integrity, and residual DNA as well as retained amounts of collagen and glycosaminoglycan (GAG). Then, we examined the susceptibility of extracellular matrix (ECM) to enzymatic remodeling. Finally, a mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) was performed to evaluate the in vitro immunogenicity of the ECM against human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Histologic examination of decellularized liver revealed the removal of nuclear and cytoplasmic materials with preservation of architecture. The vascular network was intact after decellularization. Biochemical analysis of ECM components revealed that only a negligible amount of DNA was retained compared with the native liver with preservation of large amounts of GAG and collagen. Scaffolds were degraded in response to collagenase treatment. MLR demonstrated that decellularized matrices did not exert any xenostimulatory response against human PBMCs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings suggested that naturally derived rat liver scaffolds show natural biocompatibility besides the ability to preserve the intact 3D structure and components. Because of these characteristics, the whole decellularized rat liver can retain many aspects of native tissue structure and function upon recellularization enabling it to be used for drug screening.
authors.affiliation: Stem Cell Institute, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, Korea; College of Veterinary Medicine, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, Korea.
authors.forename: K H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Hussein
authors.forename: K-M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: P K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Teotia
authors.forename: J-W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: H-M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: S-H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: S-R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: I-C
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: S-M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: H-M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Woo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000941:Antigens / Q000276:immunology*; D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D004354:Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor; D008099:Liver / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D007959:Lymphocyte Culture Test, Mixed; D051381:Rats; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds
chemical_list: D000941:Antigens; D001672:Biocompatible Materials