MECHANICALLY GUIDED UROLOGICAL TISSUE REGENERATION IN VITRO

这个子项目是利用资源的许多研究子项目之一 由NIH/NCRR资助的中心拨款提供。子项目的主要支持 而子项目的主要调查员可能是由其他来源提供的， 包括其它NIH来源。 列出的子项目总成本可能 代表子项目使用的中心基础设施的估计数量， NCRR赠款不直接向子项目或子项目工作人员提供资金。 最近在膀胱组织工程中的临床成功证明了该技术将联合收割机合成聚合物支架与宿主细胞结合用于膀胱重建的可行性。然而，仍有几个未解决的问题。例如，膀胱平滑肌细胞的体外培养延长的时间段导致这些细胞的去分化和收缩表型的丧失。我们的小组先前证明，与无张力对照相比，持续张力下的膀胱平滑肌细胞的3D培养物显示出显著更高水平的收缩表型标记物。我们假设，暴露的三维培养的膀胱平滑肌细胞适当的机械刺激导致引导细胞生长和保持收缩表型。本研究的长期目标是开发生物材料和生物反应器系统，引导SMC生长用于组织工程应用。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. Primary support for the subproject and the subproject's principal investigator may have been provided by other sources, including other NIH sources. The Total Cost listed for the subproject likely represents the estimated amount of Center infrastructure utilized by the subproject, not direct funding provided by the NCRR grant to the subproject or subproject staff. Recent clinical success in bladder tissue engineering demonstrated the feasibility of this technology to combine synthetic polymer scaffolds with host cells for bladder reconstruction. Yet, there remain several unresolved issues. For example, in-vitro culturing of bladder smooth muscle cells for a prolonged time period results in de-differentiation and loss of the contractile phenotype of these cells. Our group previously demonstrated that 3D cultures of bladder SMCs subjected to sustained tension exhibited significantly greater levels of contractile phenotype markers compared to the no-tension control. We hypothesize that exposure of 3D culture of bladder SMCs to appropriate mechanical stimuli leads to guided cell growth and retention of contractile phenotype. The long-term objective of the present study is to develop both biomaterials and a bioreactor system that guide SMC growth for use in the tissue engineering applications.