Carlo Gazia1, Riccardo Tamburrini1,2, Amish Asthana1, Deborah Chaimov1, Sean M Muir3, Domenica I Marino4, Luciano Delbono5, Valentina Villani6, Laura Perin6, Paolo Di Nardo7,8, John Robertson9, Giuseppe Orlando1. 1. Department of Surgery, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston Salem, North Carolina, USA. 2. Department of General Surgery, PhD Program in Experimental Medicine, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy. 3. Wake Forest University College of Arts and Science, Winston Salem, North Carolina. 4. Ohio State College of Arts and Science, Columbus, Ohio. 5. Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston Salem, North Carolina. 6. GOFARR Laboratory for Organ Regenerative Research and Cell Therapeutics, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Division of Urology, Saban Research Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA. 7. Centro Interdipartimentale di Medicina Rigenerativa and Dipartimento di Scienze Cliniche e Medicina Traslazionale, Università di Roma Tor Vergata, Roma, Italy. 8. I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Moscow, Russia. 9. Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, College of Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA.
Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The current review summarizes contemporary decellularization and hydrogel manufacturing strategies in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. RECENT FINDINGS: Decellularized extracellular matrix (ECM) bioscaffolds are a valuable biomaterial that can be purposed into various forms of synthetic tissues such as hydrogels. ECM-based hydrogels can be of animal or human origin. The use of human tissues as a source for ECM hydrogels in the clinical setting is still in its infancy and current literature is scant and anecdotal, resulting in inconclusive results. SUMMARY: Thus far the methods used to obtain hydrogels from human tissues remains a work in progress. Gelation, the most complex technique in obtaining hydrogels, is challenging due to remarkable heterogeneity of the tissues secondary to interindividual variability. Age, sex, ethnicity, and preexisting conditions are factors that dramatically undermine the technical feasibility of the gelation process. This is contrasted with animals whose well defined anatomical and histological characteristics have been selectively bred for the goal of manufacturing hydrogels.
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The current review summarizes contemporary decellularization and hydrogel manufacturing strategies in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. RECENT FINDINGS: Decellularized extracellular matrix (ECM) bioscaffolds are a valuable biomaterial that can be purposed into various forms of synthetic tissues such as hydrogels. ECM-based hydrogels can be of animal or human origin. The use of human tissues as a source for ECM hydrogels in the clinical setting is still in its infancy and current literature is scant and anecdotal, resulting in inconclusive results. SUMMARY: Thus far the methods used to obtain hydrogels from human tissues remains a work in progress. Gelation, the most complex technique in obtaining hydrogels, is challenging due to remarkable heterogeneity of the tissues secondary to interindividual variability. Age, sex, ethnicity, and preexisting conditions are factors that dramatically undermine the technical feasibility of the gelation process. This is contrasted with animals whose well defined anatomical and histological characteristics have been selectively bred for the goal of manufacturing hydrogels.