Decellularization Evaluation
The goal is to remove genetic material and maintain the structural integrity of the tissue.
The decellularized lymph node shows no visible cell structure in the scaffold while maintaining a certain degree of structural integrity. After transplantation, cells are able to enter and replenish the decellularized ECM scaffold, repopulating the lymph node with a similar density as the native lymph node.
Quantification of nuclei in the scaffold was done by cell count function in Qupath, which showed minimum remaining nuclei after decellularization. After transplantation, the nuclei counts significantly increased, validating the ability of decellularized lymph nodes to home cells.
0.075% SDS was sufficient to decellularize lymph nodes with minimal remaining nucleic material whilst also preserving structural integrity.