Decellularised Human Liver is too Heterogeneous for Designing a Generic ECM-mimic Hepatic Scaffold

Decellularised human livers are considered the perfect ECM (extracellular matrix) surrogate because both 3-dimensional architecture and biological features of the hepatic microenvironment are thought to be preserved. However, donor human livers are in chronically short supply, both for transplantation or as decellularised scaffolds, and will become even scarcer as life expectancy increases. It is hence of interest to determine the structural and biochemical properties of human hepatic ECM to derive design criteria for engineering bio-mimetic scaffolds. The intention of this work was to obtain quantitative design specifications for fabricating scaffolds for hepatic tissue engineering using hu