Histopathological evaluation of urethroplasty with dorsal buccal mucosa: an experimental study in rabbits.
OBJECTIVE
Buccal mucosa is a widely accepted tissue for urethroplasty. The exact healing and tissue integration process, mainly the histological characteristics of dorsal buccal mucosa graft urethroplasty when used dorsally to reconstruct the urethral plate has not previously been assessed, and thus we developed an experimental model to address this question.


METHODS
In 12 New Zealand rabbits (weight 2.5 kg) we surgically created a dorsal penile urethral defect. A buccal mucosa graft was sutured to the corpora and tunica albuginea, and the ventral urethra anastomosed to this new urethral plate. The animals were divided in three groups and sacrificed 1, 3 and 6 weeks after surgery (groups 1, 2 and 3). A retrograde urethrogram was obtained at autopsy in the last group and the penis analyzed histologically with hematoxylin-eosin and Masson's staining.


RESULTS
The urethrograms showed no evidence of fistula or stricture. In group 1 the histopathological analysis showed submucosal lymph-mononuclear inflammatory edema, numerous eosinophils and squamous epithelium integrated into the adjacent urothelium. In group 2 there was no evidence of an inflammatory response but rather complete subepithelial hyaline healing, which was more marked in group 3.


CONCLUSIONS
Healing of buccal mucosa grafts to reconstruct the urethral plate can be achieved by total integration of the squamous epithelium with the urothelium, maintaining the original histological properties of the graft with no fibrosis or retraction.
Souza
Geovanne F
GF
Divisions of Urology, Federal University of Sao Paulo, UNIFESP, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil.
Calado
Adriano A
AA
Delcelo
Rosana
R
Ortiz
Valdemar
V
Macedo
Antonio
A
D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D009061:Mouth Mucosa / Q000637:transplantation*; D010413:Penis / Q000601:surgery; D011817:Rabbits; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures; D013524:Surgical Flaps; D013997:Time Factors; D014521:Urethra / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D014525:Urethral Stricture / Q000601:surgery*; D013521:Urologic Surgical Procedures, Male / Q000379:methods*; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000502:physiology*