Quantitative Analysis of Vascular Structure in Decellularized Liver Using 3D Computed Tomography

Abstract

Recently, decellularized liver (DC-liver) has been developed as a scaffold for the generation of liver tissue because DC-liver has a vascular structure that is used for oxygen delivery. The structure has been evaluated by the appearance of the resin cast. In the present study, three-dimensional computed tomography was used to obtain images of the vascular structure. Imaging at the hepatic lobule level was achieved by coating the resin cast with a contrast dye or gold. We defined indices to evaluate blood vessel conformation and structure. The indices were measured and calculated from the images. The results suggest that DC-liver has a fine vascular structure quantitatively similar to that of native liver. This method is valuable for the development of whole liver engineering.