Bubaline tissues-based extracellular matrix scaffolds for tissue regeneration: current use and future prospectives

Most of the collagen scaffolds used in tissue engineering belongs to porcine or bovine origin. Bovines are prone to different zoonotic diseases like bovine spongiform encephalopathy or mad cow disease, transmissible spongiform encephalopathy and foot and mouth disease. The collagen scaffolds developed from porcine origin has little clinical acceptance in our country on cultural and religious grounds. More over the slaughtering of cattle is illegal/ban in most of the part of India. So, we must look the other sources of the collagen. The collagen scaffolds developed from bubaline (buffalo origin) allow greater clinical acceptance on cultural and religious grounds in addition to presenting a low risk with respect to viral pathogens and prions. Therefore, in the present study we developed collagen scaffolds from bubaline (buffalo origin) species. The protocols for decellularization of collagen scaffolds from buffalo aorta, diaphragm, rumen, reticulum, omasum, skin, gall bladder and pericardium have been optimized. The developed acellular collagen matrices were preclinically tested in laboratory animals for their biocompatibility. Suitably found matrices were treated clinically in different species of animals for reconstructive surgery. We succeeded in preservation of the complex composition and three-dimensional ultrastructure of the ECM. No methods of decellularization resulted in disruption of the architecture and loss of surface structure and composition. The acellular ECM scaffolds can create a favorable regenerative microenvironment, promote tissue-specific remodeling, and act as an inductive template for the repair and functional reconstruction. In the current review, we will provide a critical overview of the structure and function of various types of extracellular matrix derived from bubaline (buffalo origin), the construction of three-dimensional extracellular matrix scaffolds, and their tissue engineering applications, with a focus on translation of these novel tissue engineered products to the human applications. We will also present an outlook on future perspectives of the extracellular matrix derived from bubaline (buffalo origin), in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.

Abstract licence: CC BY

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