Conclusion:
Current reconstructive surgery of the entire ear pinna remains one of the biggest challenges for the plastic surgeons. Through this study, the authors propose generation of tissue-engineered ear pinna as an alternative to overcome the present limitations in clinical usage of auricle cartilage grafts such as post-transplant management ear pinna scaffold, graft biocompatibility, donor limitation, and preservation of extracellular matrix (ECM), mechanical properties and limitation of cartilage recellularization.
The present was designed to yield an ideal decellularized biocompatible scaffold whose post-transplantation recellularization was satisfactorily characterized for stem cell recruitment and mechanical properties. The decellularized scaffold that has been obtained is biodegradable, biocompatible, preserves ECM and thus can reduce post-transplant management problem.
To summarize, this study highlights a novel approach to generate xenogenic three-dimensional Tissue Engineered human ear pinna scaffold for clinical applications.