Experimental Study of a Hybrid Artificial Esophagus Using Cultured Human Esophageal Epithelial Cells

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It is important to cover the artificial esophagus with epithelium for preventing eventual stenosis and reinforcing the lumen. We examined possibility of epithelization of the surface of a latissimus dorsi muscle of athymic mice using cultured human esophageal epithelial cells.Normal human esophageal mucosa (0.5 cm2) were processed from the resected specimen of patients with esophageal cancer and epithelial cells were cultured on the collagen gel in culture dish (30 cm2) for about 10 days. The collagen sheets on which the cells were cultured were transplanted on the surface of a latissimus dorsi muscle of athymic mice. They were sacrificed 4, , 12 and 16 days after transplantation and the transplanted collagen sheets were studied histologically.On the 4th day after transplantation, the epithelial cell layer of the collagen sheet was confirmed to be kept intact and the connective tissue was observed to infiltrate into the collagen layer. On the 16th day, the vascularization in the collagen layer and many layers of mature epithelization were observed. We succeeded in transplantation of cultured human esophageal cells onto the muscle of athymic mice by no later than the 16th day after surgery.This study suggests that epithelization on the lining of the latissimus dorsi muscle tube is possible using cultured human esophageal epithelial cells.