| Abstract: | Extracellular matrix (ECM) bioscaffolds, such as porcine small intestine submucosa (SIS) and urinary bladder matrix (UBM), have been successfully used to improve soft tissue healing. Yet they contain plenty of galactose alpha 1,3 galactose (alpha Gal) epitopes, which cause rejection responses in pig organ transplantation to human. Recently, ECM bioscaffolds derived from genetically modified pigs that are alpha Gal-deficient (alpha Gal(-)) have become available. To ensure that the ECM bioscaffolds from these pigs can be used as alternatives, we examd. their morphol., bioactive and biomech. properties and compared them with those from the wild-type pigs (n = 5 per group). Morphol., the alpha Gal(-) ECMs were found to be similar to the wild-type ECMs in gross observation and matrix appearance with hematoxylin and eosin staining. Growth factors commonly known to be present in ECM bioscaffolds, including FGF-2, TGF-beta 1, VEGF, IGF-1 and PDGF-BB, also showed no significant differences in terms of quantity (p > 0.05) and distribution in tissue from the results of ELISA, Western blot anal. and immunohistochem. Furthermore, a bromodeoxyuridine cell proliferation assay confirmed the bioactivity of the exts. from the alpha Gal(-) bioscaffolds to be similar to the wild-type bioscaffolds. Under uniaxial tensile testing, no significant differences were found between the alpha Gal(-) and wild-type bioscaffolds in terms of their viscoelastic and mech. properties (p > 0.05). These multidisciplinary results suggest that genetic modification to eliminate the alpha Gal epitopes in the ECM bioscaffolds had not altered the properties of these ECM bioscaffolds and, as such, they should retain their performance in tissue engineering in humans. [on SciFinder (R)] |
