Acellular, biologically derived matrices such as small intestinal submucosa have been extensively utilized to induce tissue regeneration and remodeling of connective tissue, vascular grafts, and urinary bladder; however, decellularized scaffolds have not been explored for their potential utility in hepatic tissue engineering. In the case of both extracorporeal hepatocyte-based devices and implantable hepatocyte–scaffold tissue-engineered constructs, maintenance of hepatocellular function is of prime importance. In this study, we specifically explored decellularized, porcine, liver-derived biomatrix (LBM) as a bioresorbable scaffold for primary hepatocytes. Primary rat hepatocytes were cultured on LBM and compared with well-characterized hepatocyte culture models—double-gel cultures that promote maintenance of liver-specific functions for many weeks, and adsorbed collagen monolayers that lead to the rapid decline of hepatocellular function and viability. Hepatocytes were maintained for up to 45 days on LBM and liver-specific functions such as albumin synthesis, urea production, and P-450 IA1 activity were found to be significantly improved over adsorbed collagen cultures. Our data indicate that LBM may be a favorable alternative to existing scaffolds for tissue engineering in that it is bioresorbable, can be easily manipulated, and supports long-term hepatocellular functions in vitro.

There has been tremendous interest in the

at the nanoscale are small enough to interact directly with sub-cellular compartments and to probe intracellular events. There has been a considerable research interest in the area of drug delivery using particulate delivery systems as carriers for small and large molecules. Particulate systems like nanoparticles

and disease have been reported; these associations, if correct, would have tremendous importance for the prevention, prediction, and treatment of most common diseases. However, most reported associations are not robust: of the 166 putative associations which have been studied three or more times, only 6 have

In recent years, we have witnessed a tremendous growth in the volume of text documents available on the Internet, digital libraries, news sources, and company-wide intranets. This has led to an increased interest in developing methods that can help users to effectively navigate, summarize

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influence exists, ideas, modes of behavior, or new technologies can diffuse through the network like an epidemic. Therefore, identifying and understanding social influence is of tremendous interest from both analysis and design points of view. This is a difficult task in general, since there are factors

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Abstract—DNA microarray technology has now made it possible to simultaneously monitor the expression levels of thousands of genes during important biological processes and across collections of related samples. Elucidating the patterns hidden in gene expression data offers a tremendous opportunity

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