Bioscaffold and Abdominal Organs Bioengineering: the State of the Art

Strategies for the treatment of organ failure traditionally comprise allogeneic organ transplantation as the most effective solution. In this regard, one of the most relevant problems is represented by donor organs shortage and intense life-long immunosuppressive therapy. In order to overcome these limits, in the last decades researchers have proposed various alternative techniques in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Among these, one of the most promising ones concerns the achievement of a decelullarized organ scaffold and its recellularization with autologous cells of different lines in association with transplantation. The process of organ decellularization intends to obtain a natural extracellular matrix (ECM) scaffold, removing all cellular components that could elicit an adverse immune response following transplantation. At the same time, the ideal protocol should preserve the structural characteristics and functional properties of the ECM itself, which exerts a crucial role in the homeostasis, response to injury and organ development. The aim of the scaffold recellularization is to provide the cellular basis for the reconstitution of the parenchymal and vascular components and promote their function. The purpose of this paper is to delineate, on the basis of the most recent Literature, the state of the Art of this technique applied to abdominal organs, outlining the most relevant progresses, the major obstacles and future research guidelines.