Biomimetic and synthetic esophageal tissue engineering.
OBJECTIVE
A tissue-engineered esophagus offers an alternative for the treatment of pediatric patients suffering from severe esophageal malformations, caustic injury, and cancer. Additionally, adult patients suffering from carcinoma or trauma would benefit.


METHODS
Donor rat esophageal tissue was physically and enzymatically digested to isolate epithelial and smooth muscle cells, which were cultured in epithelial cell medium or smooth muscle cell medium and characterized by immunofluorescence. Isolated cells were also seeded onto electrospun synthetic PLGA and PCL/PLGA scaffolds in a physiologic hollow organ bioreactor. After 2 weeks of in vitro culture, tissue-engineered constructs were orthotopically transplanted.


RESULTS
Isolated cells were shown to give rise to epithelial, smooth muscle, and glial cell types. After 14 days in culture, scaffolds supported epithelial, smooth muscle and glial cell phenotypes. Transplanted constructs integrated into the host's native tissue and recipients of the engineered tissue demonstrated normal feeding habits. Characterization after 14 days of implantation revealed that all three cellular phenotypes were present in varying degrees in seeded and unseeded scaffolds.


CONCLUSIONS
We demonstrate that isolated cells from native esophagus can be cultured and seeded onto electrospun scaffolds to create esophageal constructs. These constructs have potential translatable application for tissue engineering of human esophageal tissue.
Department of Vascular Biology, University of Connecticut Health Center, 263 Farmington Avenue MC3501, Farmington, CT 06030, USA.
Todd
T
Jensen
Department of Vascular Biology, University of Connecticut Health Center, 263 Farmington Avenue MC3501, Farmington, CT 06030, USA.
Alex
A
Blanchette
Department of Vascular Biology, University of Connecticut Health Center, 263 Farmington Avenue MC3501, Farmington, CT 06030, USA.
Stephanie
S
Vadasz
Department of Vascular Biology, University of Connecticut Health Center, 263 Farmington Avenue MC3501, Farmington, CT 06030, USA.
Apeksha
A
Dave
Department of Vascular Biology, University of Connecticut Health Center, 263 Farmington Avenue MC3501, Farmington, CT 06030, USA.
Michael
M
Canfarotta
Department of Gastroenterolgy, Connecticut Children's Medical Center, 282 Washington Street, Hartford, CT 06106, USA.
Wael N
WN
Sayej
Department of Vascular Biology, University of Connecticut Health Center, 263 Farmington Avenue MC3501, Farmington, CT 06030, USA; Department of Surgery, Connecticut Children's Medical Center, 282 Washington Street, Hartford, CT 06106, USA. Electronic address: cfinck@connecticutchildrens.org.
Christine
C
Finck
D000818:Animals; D032701:Biomimetics / Q000379:methods; D019149:Bioreactors; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000637:transplantation; D004947:Esophagus / Q000166:cytology* / Q000637:transplantation*; D005260:Female; D019344:Lactic Acid / Q000737:chemistry; D008297:Male; D032389:Myocytes, Smooth Muscle / Q000166:cytology / Q000637:transplantation; D011091:Polyesters / Q000737:chemistry; D011100:Polyglycolic Acid / Q000737:chemistry; D000077182:Polylactic Acid-Polyglycolic Acid Copolymer; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds / Q000737:chemistry*
D011091:Polyesters; D000077182:Polylactic Acid-Polyglycolic Acid Copolymer; D011100:Polyglycolic Acid; D019344:Lactic Acid
Bioreactor; Esophagus; Orthotopic implantation; Synthetic scaffold; Tissue engineering