Table 3.

Quantitative parameters obtained for decellularised and untreated liver samples. Results are expressed as mean ± standard deviation, with the only exception of those referred to viscoelastic properties that are reported as estimated parameter value ± standard error of estimation. N/A = not available. For each parameter investigated, results obtained for decellularised liver are significantly different than those of untreated liver (p < 0.05)

Analysis	Parameter (units)	Decellularised liver	Untreated liver
Confocal imaging	Pore diameter (μm)	22.02 ± 0.65	N/A
	Fibre diameter (μm)	1.09 ± 0.32	N/A
Swelling behaviour	Equilibrium mass swelling ratio (w/w)	17.82 ± 0.98	3.55 ± 0.26
	Residual mass swelling ratio (w/w)	3.59 ± 0.44	2.21 ± 0.14
	Wet porosity (v/v)	0.81 ± 0.08	0.41 ± 0.09
Confocal imaging + swelling	Darcy’s permeability (m2)	(1.53 ± 0.28) ∙ 10–10	N/A
Viscoelastic characterisation (Maxwell SLS)	Instantaneous elastic modulus (kPa)	1.75 ± 0.01	2.04 ± 0.01
	Equilibrium elastic modulus (kPa)	0.76 ± 0.01	0.91 ± 0.01
	Characteristic relaxation time (s)	0.77 ± 0.01	1.10 ± 0.02