Biomaterial properties of cholecyst‐derived scaffold recovered by a non‐detergent/enzymatic method

Abstract Isolation procedures for the recovery of extracellular matrices (ECMs) from animal organs/tissues that are useful in regenerative medicine involve multiple sequential steps/stages including collection of the source organ at slaughter, their transportation to laboratory, decellularization, decontamination, stabilization, and sterilization. Most of these steps require extensive use of chemicals/reagents/enzymes which may also adversely affect the quality of the scaffold. With an effort to minimize the use of chemicals/reagents/enzymes, while extracting biomaterial‐grade ECM from porcine cholecyst (gall bladder), we performed preisolation ex situ incubation of the organ in a stabilizing agent that also caused in situ crosslinking of tissue‐components and delaminated the collagen‐rich ECM from the tissue‐layer beneath the mucosa. The physical, chemical, and biological properties of the isolated scaffolds were similar to that of a commercially available porcine small intestinal submucosa. The cholecyst‐derived scaffold not only satisfied preclinical safety‐test procedures such as cytotoxicity, local response, and endotoxin load but also showed the potential to promote healing of full‐thickness skin wound in a rabbit model. The procedure was also suitable for isolating scaffolds from other hollow organs such as jejunum and urinary bladder. It was concluded that enzyme/detergent treatment may be an avoidable step while isolating biomaterial‐grade scaffolds from hollow organs. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 102B: 1506–1516, 2014.