Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 17, 2026
Surgical Model for Single-Staged Tissue-Engineered Urothelial Tubes in Minipigs
Published on: July 5, 2024
Development of a cell-seeded modified small intestinal submucosa for urethroplasty
Long Zhang1, Anna Du2, Junping Li1
1Department of Urology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
Objective:
To explore the feasibility of a modified 3D porous small intestinal submucosa (SIS) scaffold seeded with urothelial cells (UC) for surgical reconstruction in a rabbit model.
Material And Methods:
Eighteen New England white male rabbits were divided into three groups and a 0.8 × 1.5 cm(2) section of the anterior urethral mucosa was removed from each animal. Ventral onlay urethroplasty was performed with a 1.0 × 1.7 cm(2) SIS scaffold that was either cell-seeded and treated with 5% peracetic acid (PAA) (n = 6), or cell-seeded and untreated (n = 6), or unseeded and treated with 5% PAA (n = 6). Animals were sacrificed at 6 months post-repair and retrograde urethrography and histological analyses performed.
Results:
In animals implanted with cell-seeded and PAA treated SIS scaffolds, urethrography showed wide-caliber urethra without any signs of stricture or fistulae, and histological analyses confirmed a complete urethral structure. In contrast, ulceration and fistula occurred in the reconstructed urethra of animals implanted with cell-seeded but untreated SIS scaffolds, and evident stricture was present in the unseeded, PAA treated group. Histological analyses demonstrated less urothelial coverage and smooth muscle in the cell-seeded and untreated SIS scaffold group, and serious fibrosis formation occurred in the unseeded, treated group.
Conclusions:
A modified 3D porous SIS scaffold seeded with UC and treated with PAA produces better urethroplasty results than cell-seeded untreated SIS scaffolds, or unseeded PAA treated SIS scaffolds.
