Biotransformation method for corneal tissue engineering: In vitro study of the fabrication and characterization of a decellularized hydrogel from salmon skin extracellular matrix.

Decellularized marine tissues are ideal for tissue engineering due to their' unique features. In this study, considering the structural similarity of the salmon skin ECM with the human cornea and using the pH sensitivity of biological macromolecules in the fish skin ECM, the irregular structure of salmon skin ECM was transformed into a regular layered structure similar to the human corneal ECM, and its potential as a tissue engineering scaffold was explored. We evaluated decellularization protocols using varying concentrations of TX100 (0.1_0.5 %) to create 3D hydrogels from salmon skin. The decellularized hydrogel membranes were prepared at pH 4 using ascorbic acid solution and modified with EDC/NHS and Riboflavin at varying concentrations (0.01_1%). The samples were evaluated for structural analysis, physical, mechanical, and biological properties. The results showed all membranes demonstrated excellent transparency, and structural analysis revealed a successful transformation from irregular to regular structure in the decellularized hydrogel cross-sections. Increasing crosslinker concentration enhanced the denaturation temperature from 40.5 °C to 43.2 °C, doubled the UTS, and extended the degradation time from 4 days to over a month. The decellularized hydrogel scaffolds showed biocompatibility, strong cell adhesion, supported the viability and proliferation of human corneal epithelial cells, and maintained the epithelial phenotype.