Extrahepatic bile duct regeneration in pigs using collagen scaffolds loaded with human collagen-binding bFGF

Extrahepatic bile duct defects and their complications are benign lesions but with malignant outcomes. Extrahepatic bile duct regeneration at the injury site could be important for the repair. In our previous work, a human basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) fused with a collagen-binding domain (CBD) was produced to activate the collagen membrane to obtain targeted tissue regeneration. This collagen/growth factor functional biomaterial could promote the regeneration of skin, bladder and full-thickness abdominal wall by accelerating vascularization and cellularization of autologous tissues. We speculate that the functional biomaterial could also provide the repairing effect on extrahepatic bile duct injuries. Using a pig extrahepatic bile duct injury model, we found that the collagen/CBD-bFGF composite biomaterial could significantly promote the extrahepatic bile duct regeneration at the injury site without causing structure deformation or hepatic dysfunction during both short- and long-time observations.