Combining human liver ECM with topographically featured electrospun scaffolds for engineering hepatic...

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Science
• Regenerative Medicine
• Tissue Engineering

Background:

• Liver disease prevalence is increasing globally, necessitating advanced treatments beyond transplantation.
• In-vitro culture platforms are crucial for developing new drug therapies and regenerative strategies.
• Human decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM) offers a promising biomaterial for tissue engineering due to its human-specific composition.

Purpose of the Study:

• To create an innovative in-vitro culture platform for liver tissue engineering.
• To incorporate human liver dECM into electrospun polycaprolactone (PCL) fibers with nanotopographies.
• To evaluate the efficacy of these hybrid scaffolds in supporting liver cell functions.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of hybrid scaffolds by integrating human liver dECM into electrospun PCL fibers with controlled nanotopographies.
• Characterization of scaffold properties including morphology, mechanical strength, hydrophilicity, and stability.
• Validation of scaffolds using HepG2 cells and primary mouse hepatocytes to assess cell attachment, proliferation, and gene expression.

Main Results:

• Successful fabrication of hybrid scaffolds with varying dECM concentrations and defined surface nanotopographies.
• Demonstrated maintenance of cell growth, enhanced cell attachment, and proliferation on the modified scaffolds.
• Observed influence of the scaffolds on hepatic-related gene expression in cultured liver cells.

Conclusions:

• This study presents a novel method for utilizing human liver dECM in advanced electrospun scaffolds.
• The developed hybrid scaffolds serve as effective in-vitro culture platforms for liver tissue engineering.
• This approach holds potential for advancing drug discovery and regenerative therapies for liver diseases.