De novo reconstitution of a functional mammalian urinary bladder by tissue engineering.
Human organ replacement is limited by a donor shortage, problems with tissue compatibility, and rejection. Creation of an organ with autologous tissue would be advantageous. In this study, transplantable urinary bladder neo-organs were reproducibly created in vitro from urothelial and smooth muscle cells grown in culture from canine native bladder biopsies and seeded onto preformed bladder-shaped polymers. The native bladders were subsequently excised from canine donors and replaced with the tissue-engineered neo-organs. In functional evaluations for up to 11 months, the bladder neo-organs demonstrated a normal capacity to retain urine, normal elastic properties, and histologic architecture. This study demonstrates, for the first time, that successful reconstitution of an autonomous hollow organ is possible using tissue-engineering methods.
Department of Urology, Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
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F
Oberpenning
J
J
Meng
J J
JJ
Yoo
A
A
Atala
D000818:Animals; D004285:Dogs; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D009130:Muscle, Smooth / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000637:transplantation; D011859:Radiography; D001743:Urinary Bladder / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology / Q000637:transplantation*; D016476:Urinary Reservoirs, Continent; D019459:Urothelium / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000637:transplantation