Plant Decellularization by Chemical and Physical Methods for Regenerative Medicine: A Review Article

Fabricating three-dimensional (3D) scaffolds is attractive due to various advantages for tissue engineering, such as cell migration, proliferation, and adhesion. Since cell growth depends on transmitting nutrients and cell residues, naturally vascularized scaffolds are superior for tissue engineering. Vascular passages help the inflow and outflow of liquids, nutrients, and waste disposal from the scaffold and cell growth. Porous scaffolds can be prepared by plant tissue decellularization which allows for the cultivation of various cell lines depending on the intended application. To this end, researchers decellularize plant tissues by specific chemical and physical methods. Researchers use plant parts depending on their needs, for example, decellularizing the leaves, stems, and fruits. Plant tissue scaffolds are advantageous for regenerative medicine, wound healing, and bioprinting. Studies have examined various plants such as vegetables and fruits such as orchid, parsley, spinach, celery, carrot, and apple using various materials and techniques such as sodium dodecyl sulfate, Triton X-100, peracetic acid, deoxyribonuclease, and ribonuclease with varying percentages, as well as mechanical and physical techniques like freeze-thaw cycles. The process of data selection, retrieval, and extraction in this review relied on scholarly journal publications and other relevant papers related to the subject of decellularization, with a specific emphasis on plant-based research. The obtained results indicate that, owing to the cellulosic structure and vascular nature of the decellularized plants and their favorable hydrophilic and biological properties, they have the potential to serve as biological materials and natural scaffolds for the development of 3D-printing inks and scaffolds for tissue engineering.