title: Production of an optimized tissue-engineered pig connective tissue for the reconstruction of the urinary tract.
abstract: Nonurological autologous tissues are used for urethral reconstruction to correct urinary tract disorders but are still leading to complications. Other substitutes have been studied on small animal models without great success. For preclinical tests, we selected the porcine model for its similarity to the human urinary tract. Up to now, porcine skin fibroblasts were not able to synthesize enough extracellular matrix under standard conditions to sustain the formation of an adequate tissue for transplantation purposes. Therefore, our goal was to optimize the harvesting site and culture conditions to obtain a thick and easy to handle porcine fibroblast tissue. The oral mucosa was found to be the ideal harvesting site, and a culture temperature of 39°C enabled the formation of a good porcine fibroblast sheet. We successfully superimpose three fibroblast sheets that merged into a thick and resistant tissue where physiological extracellular matrix was produced. Mechanical resistance evaluation by uniaxial traction on the three-layer fibroblast constructs also demonstrated its suitable properties. The production of this porcine connective tissue offers an interesting option in the field of urological tissue engineering. Autologous experiments on a larger animal model are now possible and accessible, allowing the performance of long-term in vivo studies.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Organogénèse Expérimentale CMDGT/LOEX, Centre de recherche FRSQ du CHA universitaire de Québec et Département de Chirurgie, Université Laval, Québec, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Gabrielle
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ouellet
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dubé
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gauvin
authors.forename: Véronique
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Laterreur
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bouhout
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bolduc
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003238:Connective Tissue / Q000502:physiology*; D055119:Elastic Modulus; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000378:metabolism; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000166:cytology; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D006801:Humans; D009061:Mouth Mucosa / Q000166:cytology; D044968:Regenerative Medicine / Q000379:methods*; D012867:Skin / Q000166:cytology; D034421:Sus scrofa; D013696:Temperature; D013718:Tensile Strength; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D014551:Urinary Tract / Q000473:pathology*