Novel utilization of serum in tissue decellularization

Decellularization of native tissues is a promising technique with numerous applications in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. However, there are various limitations of currently available decellularization methods, such as alteration of extracellular matrix mechanics and restricted use on certain tissues. This study was conducted to explore the effect of serum on the decellularization of various types of tissues. Fetal bovine serum-containing cell culture medium endothelial growth media-2 removed DNA but not cellular beta-actin from human umbilical artery after detergent treatment, without compromising the tissue mechanical strength assessed by burst pressure. In addition, the effect of serum-containing endothelial growth media-2 on DNA removal was replicated in other types of tissues such as tissue-engineered vessels and myocardium. Other types of serum, including human serum, were also shown to remove DNA from detergent-pretreated tissues. In conclusion, we describe a novel utilization of serum that may have broad applications in tissue decellularization.