A Decellularized Oesophagus Demonstrated in Rats
Researchers here make use of the process of decellularization to match a donor organ to the recipient. In the ideal procedure, donor cells are removed and the remaining extracellular matrix of the organ is repopulated with the recipient's cells, thereby eliminating most issues of transplant rejection. The use of a donor matrix bypasses the present inability to construct a sufficiently complex scaffold for most tissues, complete with cues and guides for blood vessel formation and other structures within tissue:
A tissue-engineered oesophageal scaffold could be very useful for the treatment of pediatric and adult patients with benign or malignant diseases such as carcinomas, trauma or congenital malformations. Here we decellularize rat oesophagi inside a perfusion bioreactor to create biocompatible biological rat scaffolds that mimic native architecture, resist mechanical stress and induce angiogenesis.Seeded allogeneic mesenchymal stromal cells spontaneously differentiate (proven by gene-, protein and functional evaluations) into epithelial- and muscle-like cells. The reseeded scaffolds are used to orthotopically replace the entire cervical oesophagus in immunocompetent rats.
All animals survive the 14-day study period, with patent and functional grafts, and gain significantly more weight than sham-operated animals. Explanted grafts show regeneration of all the major cell and tissue components of the oesophagus including functional epithelium, muscle fibres, nerves and vasculature. We consider the presented tissue-engineered oesophageal scaffolds a significant step towards the clinical application of bioengineered oesophagi.