Decellularized Scaffolds and Organogenesis

Wei Yang, Renpei Xia, Yujun Zhang, Hongyu Zhang, Lianhua Bai, Yang, Wei, Xia, Renpei, Zhang, Yujun, Zhang, Hongyu, Bai, Lianhua

After being initially hailed as the ultimate solution to end-stage organ failure, such as end-stage liver disease (ESLD), engineering of vascularized tissues has stalled because of the need for a well-structured circulatory system that can maintain the cells to be seeded inside the construct.In the field of regenerative medicine, decellularized scaffolds, derived mainly from various non-autologous whole organs, have become an emerging treatment technique to overcome this obstacle. As a result of significant progress made in recent years, organogenesis through whole-organ decellularization scaffolds may now become more feasible than ever before. In this chapter, we describe in detail the necessary steps for liver organogenesis using a decellularized acellular scaffold (DAS), seed cell isolation, and recellularization in a bioreactor-like culture system. This new technique to re-engineer organs may have major implications for the fields of drug discovery, organ transplantation, and ultimately regenerative medicine.