Morphology of medicinal plant leaves for their functional vascularity: A novel approach for tissue engineering applications

Abstract

Despite significant advances in the fabrication of engineered biomaterials for regenerative medicine, delivery of nutrients in complex engineered human tissues remains a challenge. By taking advantage of the similarities in the vascular structure of plant and animal tissues, an attempt was made to develop prevascularized scaffolds from plant leaf for biomedical applications. The present study was undertaken on different medicinal plant leaves (n=6) to evaluate the morphology and functional vascularity before and after decellularization process. The strength of the leaves was assessed subjectively and it was observed that handling strength was apparently better in all the plant leaves studied except in betel leaves. The vascular patency test was done after decellularization and it was observed that the patency was retained even after decellularization process. Then the leaves were subjected for histological processing to assess the efficiency of decellularization process. Histological staining showed the loss of nuclei from the decellularized leaf without affecting the normal structure of the vasculature/tissue, as noted when leaves were stained before and after decellularization.