IMMUNOMORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISATION OF DECELLULARIZED NONHUMAN PRIMATE´S ESOPHAGUS
Transplantation is the only effective treatment for patients with diseases in terminal stage. However, this method is fraught with constant shortages of donor organs and the need for life-long immunosuppressive therapy after operation. Tissue engineering is a potential alternative to transplantation: decellularization with a following recellularization with recipient´s autologous cells would avoid many post-transplant complications. Creation of tissue-engineered esophagus begins with detergent-enzymatic method of decellularization performed by continuous perfusion. Evaluation of the effectiveness of the performed procedures was carried out by quantitative and qualitative methods: light microscopy after standard histological preparations and immunohistochemical staining, the spectrophotometric quantification of residual DNA. The results allowed drawing conclusions about the preservation of the structure of the extracellular matrix and the elimination of the nuclear material, but further research is needed to create a functional scaffold of the nonhuman primate's esophagus.