[Preliminary research on construction of artificial esophagus with cultured squamous epithelial cells and myoblast cells seeded on small intestinal submucosa].
OBJECTIVE
To study the construction feasibility of a biodegradable artificial esophagus by the squamous epithelial cells and the myoblast cells seeded on the small intestinal submucosa(SIS) and to investigate the growth pattern and angiogenesis of the co-cultured human embryonic squamous epithelial cells and the skeletal myoblasts in vivo.


METHODS
The squamous epithelial cells and the myoblast cells were obtained from the 20-week aborted fetus. Both of their cells were marked by 5-BrdU in vitro. The isolated cells were then seeded on the SIS and cocultured in vitro for 24 hours, and then the compound of the cells and the SIS was transplanted into the subcutaneous tissue of the athymismus mice. The observation on the morphology and the cytokeratin AE3 and a-actin specified immunohistochemistry of the squamous epithelial cells and the myoblast cells was performed at each of the following time points: 3 days, 1 week, 2 weeks, and 3 weeks after transplantation.


RESULTS
The morphological observation indicated that the cultured cells could penetrate into the small intestinal submucosa and form several-layered cell structures, and that the compound of the cells and the SIS could have angiogenesis within 2-3 weeks. The 5-BrdU specified immunohistochemical observation suggested that the cells growing in the small intestinal submucosa scaffold might be the cells transplanted. The cytokeratin AE3 specified and alpha-actin specified immunohistochemical studies demonstrated that the transplanted cells could differentiate in vivo.


CONCLUSIONS
It is possible to fabricate the framework of a biodegradable artificial esophagus with the epithelial cells and the myoblast cells seeded on the small intestinal submucosa.
Cen
Shiqiang
S
Department of Orthopedics, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu Sichuan, 610041, PR China.
Li
Wanli
W
Huang
Fuguo
F
D000818:Animals; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D004847:Epithelial Cells; D004947:Esophagus / Q000166:cytology*; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000166:cytology; D007421:Intestine, Small / Q000166:cytology*; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D032446:Myoblasts; D013234:Stem Cells; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*