Purpose
To improve effect of liver disease treatment, tissue engineering approach such as direct hepatocyte injection has been investigated. Encapsulation, mixing cells and biomaterials to enclose cells within a biomaterial capsule, is commonly used to deliver cells into the body. Many kinds of biomaterials including natural and artificial materials have been used. The capsule must have biocompatibility and microstructure for cell culture, survival and proliferation as well as cell function and therapeutic effects. However, most biomaterials used for encapsulation have low biocompatibility, insufficient constituents and an unsuitable 3-dimensional structure. To solve these problems, we performed encapsulation using a decellularized liver scaffold (DCLS) with a native extracellular matrix (ECM) and natural porous microstructure including vasculature.
Methods
DCLS was prepared with 0.1% sodium dodecyl sulfate under agitation and 2 mm2 sized DCLS pieces were sterilized with peracetic acid (25.6 µl/10 ml) for 24 hours. Histological analysis showed that the DCLS had native ECM, liver specific major architecture and blood vessel structure but no cells. For cell encapsulation, hepG2 cells were injected into DCLS pieces with a syringe and cultured for 5 days.
Results
The cells survived and formed a cell mass with a liver ECM microstructure inside the DCLS capsules. The encapsulation status was similar to capsules formed by current encapsulation techniques.
Conclusions
DCLS can be used to make an encapsulation cell delivery system.