Kim Jongmin, Kong Jeong Sik, Kim Hyeonji, Han Wonil, Won Jae Yon, Cho Dong-Woo
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang 37673, Korea.
School of Interdisciplinary Bioscience and Bioengineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang 37673, Korea.
Pharmaceutics. 2021 Jun 23;13(7):934. doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics13070934.
Retinal degeneration is a leading cause of incurable vision loss and blindness. The increasing incidence of retinal degeneration has triggered research into the development of in vitro retinal models for drug development and retinal alternatives for transplantation. However, the complex retinal structure and the retinal microenvironment pose serious challenges. Although 3D cell printing technology has been widely used in tissue engineering, including in vitro model development and regeneration medicine, currently available bioinks are insufficient to recapitulate the complex extracellular matrix environment of the retina. Therefore, in this study, we developed a retinal decellularized extracellular matrix (RdECM) from the porcine retina and evaluated its characteristics. The RdECM conserved the ECM components from the native retina without cellular components. Then, we mixed the RdECM with collagen to form a bioink and confirmed its suitability for 3D cell printing. We further studied the effect of the RdECM bioink on the differentiation of Muller cells. The retinal protective effect of the RdECM bioink was confirmed through a retinal degeneration animal model. Thus, we believe that the RdECM bioink is a promising candidate for retinal tissue engineering.
视网膜变性是导致不可治愈的视力丧失和失明的主要原因。视网膜变性发病率的不断上升引发了对用于药物开发的体外视网膜模型以及用于移植的视网膜替代物的研究。然而，复杂的视网膜结构和视网膜微环境带来了严峻挑战。尽管3D细胞打印技术已广泛应用于组织工程，包括体外模型开发和再生医学，但目前可用的生物墨水不足以重现视网膜复杂的细胞外基质环境。因此，在本研究中，我们从猪视网膜中开发了一种视网膜脱细胞细胞外基质（RdECM）并评估了其特性。RdECM保留了来自天然视网膜的细胞外基质成分，而没有细胞成分。然后，我们将RdECM与胶原蛋白混合形成生物墨水，并确认了其适用于3D细胞打印。我们进一步研究了RdECM生物墨水对穆勒细胞分化的影响。通过视网膜变性动物模型证实了RdECM生物墨水的视网膜保护作用。因此，我们认为RdECM生物墨水是视网膜组织工程的一个有前途的候选材料。
