Preparation of a natural three dimentional elastic scaffold, from amphibians (Pelophylax ridibundus

Abstract

Scaffolds constitute the major component of tissue engineering applications, providing a three dimensional substrate to support cell growth and differentiation. The effective factors on the mechanical properties of scaffolds are size and porosity, scaffold construction method and its composition. Lung tissue consists of an interconnectied porous network along with many elastic fibers. Macromolecules including, collagen, elastin and proteoglycans are important for determination of the extracellular matrix (ECM) mechanical properties of the lung tissue. In this study, frog’s lung is considered as a suitable model for decellularization since it is a transparent tissue, with minimal thickness. The purpose of this study is providing an elastic natural scaffold of frog’s lung as a model in tissue engineering research. Decellularization of the frog’s lung was performed using physical (snap freeze-thaw) and chemical (0.25% and 0.5% SDS) methods. Samples were prepared for histological studies and stained with Hematoxylin-Eosin and Orsein-Pick indigo carmin. The results, confirmed removing of the cells from the ECM and maintaining the collagen and elastic fibers in the scaffolds prepared by treatment with 0.5% SDS for 24h. Thus, our results indicated that it is possible to prepare a natural 3D elastic scaffold from the frog’s lung using SDS. This scaffold can serve as a model to study its inductive effects on various cellular behaviors such as migration, proliferation and differentiation.