Decellularized Plant Leaves for 3D Cell Culturing

Decellularization has become prevalent as a critical process for tissue engineering for creating large scale tissues in combination with recellularization as it paved the way to incorporate a functioning vascular system by utilizing a preexisting one. We present a rapid decellularization process of plant leaves that can be used to effectively produce cell viable perfusible scaffolds that are suited for 3D cell culturing. The leaf vein scaffolds produced using this method maintain their natural three-dimensional micro-architecture and cells can attach on to them without any coating. Despite the increased speed of production, the method yields practical leaf veins and has the potential to accelerate the development of complex large-scale tissues with further research.