The goal of this work was to create a bioactive tissue-based scaffold using multi-disciplinary engineering materials and tissue engineering techniques. Materials & methods: Physical techniques such as direct laser interference lithography and proton radiation were selected as alternative methods of enzymatic and chemical decellularization to remove cells from a tissue without degradation of the extracellular matrix nor its protein structure. This study was an attempt to prepare a functional scaffold for cell culture from tissue of animal origin using new physical methods that have not been considered before. The work was carried out under full control of the histological and molecular analysis. Results & conclusions: The most important finding was that the physical methods used to obtain the decellularized tissue scaffold differed in the efficiency of cell removal from the tissue in favour of the laser method. Both the laser method and the proton method exhibited a destructive effect on tissue structure and the genetic material in cell nuclei. This effect was visible on histology images as blurred areas within the cell nucleus. The finite element 3D simulation of decellularization process of the three-layer tissue of animal origin sample reflected well the mechanical response of tissue described by hyperelastic material models and provided results comparable to the experimental ones.
Keywords: aortic valve tissue; decellularized tissue scaffold; elastic fibers; hyperelastic material model; laser-tissue interaction; pericardium; proton microbeam irradiation; tissue autofluorescence.