Tissue engineering offers the potential to create functional and viable tissue constructs for patients requiring organ replacement. One potential approach for creating tissue constructs is to isolate cells from the patient, expand the cell population, culture cells in vitro on a scaffold, and then implant the resulted tissue engineered construct back into the patient. In this approach, a three-dimensional (3-D) scaffold is necessary to serve as a template to guide cell growth and tissue development. In this study, a 3-D decellularized elastic scaffold was prepared and seeded with adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells (Ad-MSCs) in order to investigate the inductive effects of the scaffold on cellular behaviors. Methods: In order to make a decellularized aortic scaffold, ascending part of bovine aorta was dissected and its surrounding adherent tissues were omitted. Aorta was cut into 5 x 5 mm pieces, which were subsequently treated by cyanogen bromide and formic acid to remove cells and collagen; and then preincubated overnight in cell culture medium. Cell seeding was performed by suspending 5 x 105 human Ad-MSCs in 50 μl of cell culture medium for each scaffold on the luminal surface. Culture medium was changed twice weekly. Samples were collected after 14 days of culture. Cell seeded scaffolds were fixed with 2.5% glutaraldehyde followed by three washes in 0.1 M sodium cacodylate buffer, then the specimens were treated with 1% osmium tetroxide and fixed on metal stubs and coated with gold‐palladium by sputtering. Scanning electron microscopy was performed on cross sections of scaffolds (SEM; LEO 1450VP, England) to investigate morphology and porosity. Results: SEM analysis of elastic scaffolds revealed a well-oriented 3-D network of elastic fibers, and confirmed the efficient removal of cellular components. It also displayed Penetration, adherence and maintenance of Ad-MSCs on the scaffold. Conclusion: Our results indicated that a natural 3-D elastic scaffold derived from aorta, has inductive effects on Ad-MSCs behaviors such as migration, peneteration and adhesiveness and could be used in cardiovascular tissue engineering applications

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