Evaluation of Supercritical CO₂-Assisted Protocols in a Model of Ovine Aortic Root Decellularization

One of the leading trends in the modern tissue engineering is the development of new effective methods of decellularization aimed at the removal of cellular components from a donor tissue, reducing its immunogenicity and the risk of rejection. Supercritical CO₂ (scCO₂)-assisted processing has been proposed to improve the outcome of decellularization, reduce contamination and time costs. The resulting products can serve as personalized tools for tissue-engineering therapy of various somatic pathologies. However, the decellularization of heterogeneous 3D structures, such as the aortic root, requires optimization of the parameters, including preconditioning medium composition, the type of co-solvent, values of pressure and temperature inside the scCO₂ reactor, etc. In our work, using an ovine aortic root model, we performed a comparative analysis of the effectiveness of decellularization approaches based on various combinations of these parameters. The protocols were based on the combinations of treatments in alkaline, ethanol or detergent solutions with scCO₂-assisted processing at different modes. Histological analysis demonstrated favorable effects of the preconditioning in a detergent solution. Following processing in scCO₂ medium provided a high decellularization degree, reduced cytotoxicity, and increased ultimate tensile strength and Young's modulus of the aortic valve leaflets, while the integrity of the extracellular matrix was preserved.