PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Ekasit Sonpho
AU  - Chanida Wootthichairangsan
AU  - Miyuki Ishida
AU  - Takeshi Inoue
AU  - Kiyokazu Agata
AU  - Anchuleerat Maleehuan
AU  - Komgrid Charngkaew
AU  - Nusara Chomanee
AU  - Saengduen Moonsom
AU  - Patompon Wongtrakoongate
AU  - Arthit Chairoungdua
AU  - Puey Ounjai
TI  - ECM-body: A cell-free 3D biomimetic scaffold derived from intact planarian body
AID  - 10.1101/763714
DP  - 2019 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 763714
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/09/11/763714.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/09/11/763714.full
AB  - Extracellular matrix (ECM) plays key roles in shaping fates of stem cells, not only by providing suitable niche but also by mediating physical and biochemical cues. Despite intensive investigations on regeneration, the roles of ECM on fate determination of stem cells in animal with great regenerative potency, such as planarian, remained unclear. Here, we developed a method to decellularizing and isolating extracellular matrix from planarians. Although the isolated scaffold appears translucent, it contains all the internal features, resembling the structure of intact planarian, and which we thus called “ECM-body”. Nuclear staining demonstrated that ECM-body contains very little or no cell remained. Histological sections displayed a well-preserved morphological integrity of the specimen. Scanning electron microscope showed porous surface on ECM-body, potentially suitable for housing cells. Furthermore, our preliminary experiment suggested that ECM-body can be utilized as biomimetic scaffold for cell culture as it may support survival of injected neoblasts.