[Preparation and biocompatibility of porcine skeletal muscle acellular matrix for adipose tissue engineering]

Extracellular matrix is one of the focus researches of the adipose tissue engineering. To investigate the appropriate method to prepare the porcine skeletal muscle acellular matrix and to evaluate the biocompatibility of the matrix.

The fresh skeletal muscle tissues were harvested from healthy adult porcine and were sliced into 2-3 mm thick sheets, which were treated by hypotonic-detergent method to remove the cells from the tissue. The matrix was then examined by histology, immunohistochemistry, and scanning electron microscopy. The toxic effects of the matrix were tested by MTT. Human adipose-derived stem cells (hADSCs) were isolated from adipose tissue donated by patients with breast cancer, and identified by morphology, flow cytometry, and differentiation ability. Then, hADSCs of passage 3 were seeded into the skeletal muscle acellular matrix, and cultured in the medium. The cellular behavior was assessed by calcein-AM (CA) and propidium iodide (PI) staining at 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th days after culturing.

Histology, immunohistochemistry, and scanning electron microscopy showed that the muscle fibers were removed completely with the basement membrane structure; a large number of collagenous matrix presented as regular network, porous-like structure. The cytotoxicity score of the matrix was grade 1, which meant that the matrix had good cytocompatibility. The CA and PI staining showed the seeded hADSCs had the potential of spread and proliferation on the matrix.

Porcine skeletal muscle acellular matrix has good biocompatibility and a potential to be used as an ideal biomaterial scaffold for adipose tissue engineering.