Poster AA18 - Bioprinting Decellularized Extracellular Matrix Derived Bioink for Mucosal Tissue Engineering

Saturday, October 26, 2024

10:00 AM - 11:00 AM EST

Location: Exhibit Hall E, F & G

Presenting Author(s)

Lucas Adams (he/him/his)

Student
Lawrence Technological University
Wixom, Michigan, United States

Co-Author(s)

AF

Amanda Flack

Senior Lecturer
Lawrence Technological University, United States
TB

Therese Bou-Akl, MD, PhD (she/her/hers)

Manager, Orthopedic Research Lab
Ascension Providence Hospital, United States

Last Author(s)

YL

Yawen Li, PhD

Associate Professor and Chair, Biomedical Engineering Department, Lawrence Technological University
Lawrence Technological University
Southfield, Michigan, United States

Introduction: A patient with an autoimmune disease, such as celiac disease, experiences damage on the mucosal layer of the small intestine. A tissue engineering approach utilizing a custom printed mucosal scaffold provides a potential solution to repair the mucosal injury. Removing cellular components from a tissue to create a decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM) could be an ideal scaffold as it mimics the biochemical composition of the native tissue. Bioprinting is another fabrication technique that allows the generation of custom scaffolds with the possibility of incorporating cells. We hypothesize that a scaffold made by bioprinting a dECM-derived gel from the small intestine provides a favorable in vivo-like environment for the regeneration of mucosal tissue. We report here our process to decellularize the small intestine tissue and ongoing bioprinting work and characterization.

Materials and

Methods: Fresh porcine small intestines were obtained from the Meats Department at Michigan State University. Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)/Triton X-100 was used as the decellularization solution. Both static immersion and perfusion were used to compare the efficiency and reproducibility of the decellularization process. H&E staining was performed to check the presence of cellular components. Pepsin was applied to digest the decellularized ECM and gelatinize post incubation. A custom bioink was made consisting of the gelatinized dECM mixed with gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA). The above process is illustrated in Fig. 1. Work is ongoing to use an extrusion based process to print the bioink and characterize the biocompatibility of the printed scaffold.

Results, Conclusions, and Discussions: Results and

Discussion:
Static immersion in SDS/Triton X-100 at 37*C for ~72 hours led to reproducible and effective removal of cells from the porcine small intestine tissue, as shown in the H&E stain (Fig. 2).
Mechanical testing on the tissue before and after decellularization showed decrease in both the maximum load and displacement for the decellularized tissue (Fig. 3), which is expected from the removal of cellular components. Preliminary printing using the GelMA showed good reproducibility and controllability in creating different patterns.

Conclusion:
Bioprinting dECM-derived gel provides a promising scaffold for mucosal tissue engineering. We have developed a decellularization process for the porcine small intestine tissue. Ongoing work is focused on printing the dCEM-GelMA bioink and characterizing the in vitro biocompatibility of the printed scaffold.

Acknowledgements (Optional):