Preparation and mechanical behavior of the acellular porcine common bile duct and its immunogenicity in vivo

Abstract

The current clinical treatments for complications caused by hepatobiliary surgery still have some inevitable weaknesses. This study aimed to prepare the acellular porcine common bile duct (APCBD) for repairing biliary defects and damage. The porcine common bile duct was decellularized by the freeze-thaw method combined with nuclease treatment, and the efficacy of acellularization was confirmed by the DNA quantification and histological structure. The results showed that the residual DNA content was reduced from 854.67 ± 9.71 ng/mg to 5.43 ± 0.85 ng/mg, and the natural structure and shape of the bile duct were well preserved. The biomechanical properties such as the tensile strength, elastic modulus, and elongation-at-break of the APCBD in the transverse and longitudinal direction indicated that the APCBD meets the requirements of the biomechanical strength in replacement. In addition, the results of the immunotoxicity test showed there was no significant difference in the body weights, organ coefficient, hematology, and immune histology between the experimental groups (three subgroups) and the negative control group, which demonstrated the prepared APCBD had no obvious toxicity to the immune system in vivo and might be a suitable biomaterial for the bile duct repairing.

Keywords: Acellular porcine common bile duct; Bile duct repairing; Biomechanical; Immunotoxicity.