Development of Intestinal Scaffolds that Mimic Native Mammalian Intestinal Tissue

The goal of this study was to develop a scaffold for the generation of an artificial intestine that specifically mimics the architecture and biomechanical properties of the native small intestine, and to evaluate the scaffold in vitro and in vivo. Scaffolds mimicking the microarchitecture of native intestine were fabricated from poly (glycerol sebacate) (PGS) with a thickness of 647 µm (± 241 µm) and villus height of 340 µm (± 29.5 µm). The scaffolds showed excellent biological properties, as 71.4% (± 7.2%) and 58.7% (± 12.7%) mass remained after 5 weeks of in vitro exposure to control and digestive media respectively. Tensile properties of the scaffolds approached those of native porcine intestine and scaffolds maintained their mechanical properties over 6 weeks based on rheometer measurements. Scaffolds accommodated intestinal epithelial stem cells and demonstrated maintenance of size and microarchitecture after 12 weeks of omental implantation in mice. There was an expected amount of inflammation but l...