Table 5.
Applications of tissue-specific ECM in in vitro tissue construction or in vivo tissue regeneration
| Application | ECM type | Seeded cell types | Culture condition(s) | Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| In vitro 3D cultures | ||||
| Powder substrates | Acellular rat skeletal muscle ECM; acellular rat liver ECM; acellular swine skin ECM | Rat muscle cells; HepG2; human foreskin cells | In vitro | Promoting cell proliferation and differentiation [147] |
| Hydrogel substrates | Acellular skeletal muscle ECM combined with hyaluronan-based hydrogel and heparin | MPCs | In vitro | Promoting MPCs’ proliferation and differentiation [30] |
| Cell sheet tissue regeneration | ||||
| Skin (dermis) | Acellular human dermal ECM, allogeneic | None | In vivo (14 patients) [161]; in vivo (2 patients) [163] | Reducing scar and contracture [161,163] |
| Cornea | Acellular porcine cornea ECM, xenogeneic | None | In vivo (10 chinchilla bastard rabbits) [164]; in vivo (six eyes of rabbits) [165] | Biocompatible with the host’s epithelium [164,165] |
| Tubular organ regeneration | ||||
| Blood vessels | Acellular porcine aorta, xenogeneic | Human ECs and myofibroblasts | In vivo (5 Lewis rats) | Successfully implanted subcutaneously in a rat model [176] |
| Acellular bovine pericardial ECM combined with poly propylene fumarate, xenogeneic | None | In vitro and in vivo (2 Lewis nude rats) | Remaining patent for two weeks in rat model [178] | |
| Esophagus | Acellular porcine SIS, xenogeneic | None | In vivo (5 patients) | Promoting reconstruction of functional esophageal mucosa in patients [180] |
| Acellular porcine SIS | Porcine BMSCs | In vitro | Meeting clinical-grade criteria, promising for clinical use [184] | |
| Bladder | Acellular porcine SIS, xenogeneic | None, or seeded with dog UCs and SMCs | In vitro and in vivo (22 dogs) | Not achieving the desired bladder regeneration resulting in a subtotal cystectomy model as in the 40% cystectomy model [185] |
| Acellular porcine SIS cross-linked with procyanidins, xenogeneic | None | In vitro and in vivo (48 New Zealand white rabbits) | Promoting in situ tissue regrowth and regeneration of rabbit bladder [187] | |
| 3D organ regeneration | ||||
| Liver | Acellular human liver ECM, allogeneic | hUVECs, hFLCs | In vitro | Decellularizing a whole liver organ for liver regeneration in vitro [201] |
| Acellular human liver ECM, xenogeneic | LX2, Sk-Hep-1, HepG2 | In vitro and in vivo (6 C57BL/6J mice) | Showing excellent viability, motility, proliferation and remodeling of the ECM in a mouse model [204] | |
| Lung | Acellular adult rat lung ECM, allogeneic | Neonatal rat lung epithelial cells | In vitro and in vivo (344 rats) | Engineered lungs participated in gas exchange in a rat model [85] |
| Acellular porcine lung ECM, xenogeneic | Human airway epithelial progenitor cells | In vitro and in vivo (3 pigs) | Demonstrating the feasibility of engineering of viable lung scaffolds in a porcine model [208] | |
| Kidney | Perfusion decellularization of rat kidney and mounted in a whole-organ bioreactor, autologous | hUVECs, rat NKCs | In vitro and in vivo (68 Sprague-Dawley rats) | The resulting grafts produced rudimentary urine in an orthotopic transplantation model [210] |
ECM, extracellular matrix; MPC, skeletal muscle precursor cell; SIS, small intestine submucosa; EC, endothelial cell; BMSC, bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell; UC, urothelial cell; SMC, smooth muscle cell; HepG2, human hepatocarcinoma cell line; hUVEC, human umbilical vein endothelial cell; hFLC, human fetal liver cell; LX2, human cell line hepatic stellate cell; Sk-Hep-1, human cell line hepatocellular carcinoma; NKC, neonatal kidney cell.