Jerome Lacombe

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• Harris, A. F., Lacombe, J., Liyanage, S., Han, M. Y., Wallace, E., Karsunky, S., Abidi, N., & Zenhausern, F. (2021). Supercritical carbon dioxide decellularization of plant material to generate 3D biocompatible scaffolds. Scientific reports, 11(1), 3643.
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  The use of plant-based biomaterials for tissue engineering has recently generated interest as plant decellularization produces biocompatible scaffolds which can be repopulated with human cells. The predominant approach for vegetal decellularization remains serial chemical processing. However, this technique is time-consuming and requires harsh compounds which damage the resulting scaffolds. The current study presents an alternative solution using supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO). Protocols testing various solvents were assessed and results found that scCO in combination with 2% peracetic acid decellularized plant material in less than 4 h, while preserving plant microarchitecture and branching vascular network. The biophysical and biochemical cues of the scCO decellularized spinach leaf scaffolds were then compared to chemically generated scaffolds. Data showed that the scaffolds had a similar Young's modulus, suggesting identical stiffness, and revealed that they contained the same elements, yet displayed disparate biochemical signatures as assessed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Finally, human fibroblast cells seeded on the spinach leaf surface were attached and alive after 14 days, demonstrating the biocompatibility of the scCO decellularized scaffolds. Thus, scCO was found to be an efficient method for plant material decellularization, scaffold structure preservation and recellularization with human cells, while performed in less time (36 h) than the standard chemical approach (170 h).
• Lacombe, J., Harris, A. F., Zenhausern, R., Karsunsky, S., & Zenhausern, F. (2020). Plant-Based Scaffolds Modify Cellular Response to Drug and Radiation Exposure Compared to Standard Cell Culture Models. Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology, 8, 932.
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  Plant-based scaffolds present many advantages over a variety of biomaterials. Recent studies explored their potential to be repopulated with human cells and thus highlight a growing interest for their use in tissue engineering or for biomedical applications. However, it is still unclear if these plant-based scaffolds can modify cell phenotype or affect cellular response to external stimuli. Here, we report the characterization of the mechano-regulation of melanoma SK-MEL-28 and prostate PC3 cells seeded on decellularized spinach leaves scaffolds, compared to cells deposited on standard rigid cell culture substrate, as well as their response to drug and radiation treatment. The results showed that YAP/TAZ signaling was downregulated, cellular morphology altered and proliferation rate decreased when cells were cultured on leaf scaffold. Interestingly, cell culture on vegetal scaffold also affected cellular response to external stress. Thus, SK-MEL-28 cells phenotype is modified leading to a decrease in MITF activity and drug resistance, while PC3 cells showed altered gene expression and radiation response. These findings shed lights on the decellularization of vegetal materials to provide substrates that can be repopulated with human cells to better reproduce a soft tissue microenvironment. However, these complex scaffolds mediate changes in cell behavior and in order to exploit the capability of matching physical properties of the various plant scaffolds to diverse physiological functionalities of cells and human tissue constructs, additional studies are required to better characterize physical and biochemical cell-substrate interactions.