Regeneration of Bladder Urothelium, Smooth Muscle, Blood Vessels and Nerves Into an Acellular Tissue Matrix

Mesenchymal-epithelial interactions in the bladder

“…9) [40]. The acellular-matrix tissue graft (-1 cm 3) was derived as a full-thickness segment from syngeneic rat gastric or bladder specimens.…”

“…Note that urothelium has completely lined the acellular matrix. Asterisk, Suture sinus; small arrows, new smooth-muscle growth; large arrows, the native-bladder acellular matrix juntion (Reprinted from Sutherland et al [40], with permission) were placed in distilled water for 1 h and agitated using a magnetic bar to lyse cells and release intracellular contents. Thereafter, tissues were suspended in 40 ml of 4% sodium deoxycholate (Sigma Chemical Co., St. Louis, Mo) for 2-4 h and were then treated with 2000 Kunitz units of deoxyribonuclease I (Sigma) suspended in 1 M sodium chloride solution and stirred for 1-2 h. This process was repeated one to three times, if necessary, to extract all cells from the tissue.…”

“…Epithelization of the acellular tissue matrix occurred by 4 days, accompanied by granulocytic infiltration [40]. Smooth muscle regenerated by 2 weeks postgrafting in juxtaposition to epithelial surfaces and matured into normal-sized bundles by 26 weeks.…”

Organ-specific matrix self-assembled by mesenchymal cells improves the normal urothelial differentiation in vitro

“…Consequently, recurrent urinary tract infections, formation of calculi and ultimately, graft contracture, were often reported post-implantation [6][7][8]. It is important to underline that xenogeneic bladder acellular matrix offers the advantage of having appropriate extracellular matrix (ECM) structure and composition, which support the recognition, infiltration and remodelling by host cells upon grafting [9]. Unfortunately, chemical and enzymatic methods to remove cells do not allow conservation of the integrity of the remaining ECM [10,11].…”

Current and future trends in the management of overactive bladder

“…Other developments in tissue engineering aim to provide suitable alternatives to bowel segments [27]. In particular, there is interest in developing a suitable scaffold on which native urothelium can regenerate [28]. Atala et al recently published a series of 7 patients who were all successfully transplanted with tissue-engineered autologous bladders, with improvements noted in compliance and maximal cystometric capacity; autologous grafts that were wrapped in omentum operatively did particularly well.…”