Tissue Engineering with Natural Tissue Matrices

Natural tissue, especially autologous tissue is one of ideal materials for tissue regeneration. Decellularized tissue could be assumed as a second choice because the structure and the mechanical properties are well maintained. Decellularized human tissues, for instance, heart valve, blood vessel, and corium, have already been developed and applied clinically. Nowadays, decellularized porcine tissues are also investigated. These decellularized tissues were prepared by detergent treatment. The detergent washing is easy but sometime it has problems. We have developed the novel decellularization method, which applied the high-hydrostatic pressure (HHP). As the tissue set in the pressurizing chamber is treated uniformly, the effect of the high-hydrostatic pressurization does not depend on the size of tissue. We have reported the HHP decellularization of heart valve, blood vessel, bone, and cornea. Furthermore, HHP treatments are reported to have the ability of the extinction of bacillus and the inactivation of virus. So, the HHP treatment is also expected as the sterilization method. We are investigating efficient processes of decellularization and recellularization of biological tissues to have bioscaffolds keeping intact structure and biomechanical properties. Our recent studies on tissue engineering using HHP decellularized tissue will be reported here.