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The effect of human amniotic epithelial cells on urethral stricture fibroblasts
Sanjay Gottipamula1, Sudarson Sundarrajan2, Kumar Chokalingam1
1Sri Research for Tissue Engineering Pvt. Ltd., Shankara Research Centre, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
Background:
Urethral stricture disease (USD) is effectively managed by buccal mucosa (BM) urethroplasty. Lack of adequate healthy BM has led to the use of autologous tissue-engineered BM grafts. Such grafts are costly, not easily scalable and recurrence of the stricture is still a problem. Hence, there is a requirement for cost-effective, scalable cells with innate antifibrotic properties which seem to be fulfilled by human amniotic epithelial cells (HAMECs). The effect of HAMECs on USD is unknown.
Aim:
To study the effect of HAMECs-CM on human urethral stricture fibroblast (USF) cells by using in-vitro migration assay and molecular techniques.
Materials And Methods:
USF cells were derived from six patients undergoing urethroplasty. HAMECs were derived from one placenta after delivery. The effect of HAMECs-CM on USF cell migration was observed using a standard in vitro scratch assay over a period of 3 days. The effect of HAMECs-CM on the expression levels of markers alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases (TIMP-1) in USF cells was also examined.
Results:
The HAMECs-CM suppressed the migration of USF cells in in vitro scratch assay. The HAMECs-CM consistently downregulated α-SMA, but not TIMP-1.
Conclusions:
HAMECs have shown antifibrotic activity on USF cells in this in vitro study.
Relevance For Patients:
HAMECs could serve as an alternative cell source for tissue-engineered urethroplasty.
