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De- and recellularized urethral reconstruction with autologous buccal mucosal cells implanted in an ovine animal model

  • Joakim Håkansson ORCID logo , Lachmi Jenndahl , Stina Simonsson , Martin E. Johansson , Karin Larsson , Raimund Strehl and Teresa Olsen Ekerhult EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: April 3, 2023
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Biomedical Engineering / Biomedizinische Technik
From the journal Biomedical Engineering / Biomedizinische Technik Volume 68 Issue 5

Abstract

Objectives

Patients with urethral stricture due to any type of trauma, hypospadias or gender dysphoria suffer immensely from impaired capacity to urinate and are in need of a new functional urethra. Tissue engineering with decellularization of a donated organ recellularized with cells from the recipient patient has emerged as a promising alternative of advanced therapy medicinal products. The aim of this pilot study was to develop an ovine model of urethral transplantation and to produce an individualized urethra graft to show proof of function in vivo.

Methods

Donated urethras from ram abattoir waste were decellularized and further recellularized with autologous buccal mucosa epithelial cells excised from the recipient ram and expanded in vitro. The individualized urethral grafts were implanted by reconstructive surgery in rams replacing 2.5 ± 0.5 cm of the native penile urethra.

Results

After surgery optimization, three ram had the tissue engineered urethra implanted for one month and two out of three showed a partially regenerated epithelium.

Conclusions

Further adjustments of the model are needed to achieve a satisfactory proof-of-concept; however, we interpret these findings as a proof of principle and a possible path to develop a functional tissue engineered urethral graft with de- and recellularization and regeneration in vivo after transplantation.

Keywords: ATMP; buccal mucosa; decellularization; ovine model; recellularization; regenerative medicine; urethral stricture
Corresponding author: Teresa Olsen Ekerhult, Department of Urology, Institute of Clinical Sciences, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden; and Department of Urology, Västra Götaland Region, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden, Phone: +46-31-3429019, E-mail:

Funding source: VINNOVA

Award Identifier / Grant number: 2017-02130

Acknowledgments

We want to acknowledge the staff at the Department of Experimental Biomedicine at Gothenburg University.

  1. Research funding: This study was supported by VINNOVA project CAMP (Contract no. 2017–02130). This study was partly performed by funding from all partners involved with required co-financing.

  2. Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.

  3. Competing interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper. The authors Lachmi Jenndahl and Raimund Strehl are fully employed by the company VERIGRAFT AB.

  4. Informed consent: Not applicable

  5. Ethical approval: The in vivo experiments were performed after prior approval from the local ethics committee for animal studies at the administrative court of appeals in Gothenburg, Sweden.

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Received: 2022-09-28
Accepted: 2023-03-13
Published Online: 2023-04-03
Published in Print: 2023-10-26

© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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https://doi.org/10.1515/bmt-2022-0386
Keywords for this article
ATMP; buccal mucosa; decellularization; ovine model; recellularization; regenerative medicine; urethral stricture

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Review
  3. Research frontiers of electroporation-based applications in cancer treatment: a bibliometric analysis
  4. Research Articles
  5. Deep neural network to differentiate internet gaming disorder from healthy controls during stop-signal task: a multichannel near-infrared spectroscopy study
  6. A low power respiratory sound diagnosis processing unit based on LSTM for wearable health monitoring
  7. Effective deep learning classification for kidney stone using axial computed tomography (CT) images
  8. De- and recellularized urethral reconstruction with autologous buccal mucosal cells implanted in an ovine animal model
  9. The impact of right ventricular hemodynamics on the performance of a left ventricular assist device in a numerical simulation model
  10. Optimal assist strategy exploration for a direct assist device under stress‒strain dynamics
  11. Revisiting SFA stent technology: an updated overview on mechanical stent performance
  12. Parameter-based patient-specific restoration of physiological knee morphology for optimized implant design and matching
  13. Influences of smart glasses on postural control under single- and dual-task conditions for ergonomic risk assessment
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