Investigating the Role of Decellularization in Liver Regeneration and Scaffold Development for Transplantation

Liver transplantation remains the definitive treatment for end-stage liver disease; however, the lack of donor organs demands different strategies, such as bioengineered liver scaffolds. Decellularization, which removes cellular components while maintaining the Extracellular Matrix (ECM) and vascular architecture, is essential for creating biocompatible liver scaffolds. The purpose of the research is to investigate scaffold formation for liver regeneration and transplantation by assessing the efficacy of various decellularization processes utilizing perfusion and diffusion methodology. The investigation evaluated three decellularization methods: Group 1 using distilled water followed by ammonium hydroxide and Triton X-100 (TX100), Group 2 incorporating sequential treatments with Ethylene Diamine Tetraacetic Acid (EDTA), trypsin, TX100, and sodium deoxycholate, and Group 3 employing peracetic acid (PAA) followed by trypsin/EDTA. Histological staining, dye injection, and mechanical testing were used to evaluate the decellularized scaffolds' effectiveness in removing cells, maintaining extracellular matrix, maintaining vascular integrity, and ensuring mechanical testing. The findings show that perfusion-based decellularization performs better than diffusion-based techniques. Group 1 is the most effective for generating complete decellularization while preserving the integrity of the extracellular matrix and vascular architecture. Although Group 3 also showed good cell clearance, prolonged trypsin exposure caused some ECM breakdown. In contrast, Group 2 demonstrated partial decellularization and lower mechanical qualities, making it less appropriate for whole-organ scaffold assembly. The decellularization process serves as an essential method for liver tissue engineering to produce bioengineered grafts and develop scaffolds that reduce organ shortages thus advancing liver transplantation through advanced regenerative medicine strategies.