Immobilization of decellularized valve scaffolds with Arg-Gly-Asp-containing peptide to promote myofibroblast adhesion

Summary  The cell adhesive properties of decellularized valve scaffolds were promoted by immobilization of valve scaffold with arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD)-containing peptides. Porcine aortic valves were decellularized with trypsin/EDTA, and detergent Triton X-100. With the help of a coupling reagent Sulfo-LC-SPDP, the valve scaffolds were immobilized with glycine-arginine-glycine-aspartic acid-serine-proline-cysteine (GRGDSPC) peptide. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used for surface structure analysis. Myofibroblasts harvested from rats were seeded onto the valve scaffolds. Cell count by using microscopy and modified MTT assay were performed to assess cell adhesion. Based on the spectra of XPS, the conjugation of GRGDSPC peptide with decellularized valve scaffolds was confirmed. Both cell count and MTT assay showed that myofibroblasts were much easier to adhere to the modified valve scaffolds, which was also confirmed histologically. Our findings suggest that it is feasible to immobilize RGD-containing peptides onto decellularized valve scaffolds. And the technique can effectively promote cell adhesion, which is beneficial for in vitro tissue engineering of heart valves. This project was supported by grants from the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China (No. 30571839 and 30600608).