Reconstitution of urethral sphincter and neurovascular bundle using skeletal muscle-derived multipotent stem cells.

尿道横纹括约肌（URS）和神经血管束（NVB）损伤是根治性尿道切除术的主要并发症。它通常被认为是由不可避免的手术损伤尿道周围的肌肉-神经-血管单位引起的。我们已经在骨骼肌中鉴定出两种能够重建肌肉-神经-血管单元的干细胞群。因此，我们尝试使用这些干细胞重建尿道括约肌和NVB术后损伤。结果表明，移植细胞可分化为骨骼肌纤维、周围神经（雪旺细胞、神经束膜）和血管（内皮细胞、周细胞）相关细胞，促进尿道周围肌-神经-血管单位的重建。支持这些数据，与对照组相比，在细胞移植组中观察到尿道括约肌和NBV单位的显著功能恢复（P<0.05），其通过电刺激评估为尿道压力曲线（UPP）。这些发现表明，移植和/或治疗骨骼肌来源的干细胞是一个有用的工具，重建尿道功能下降后根治性尿道切除术。

Postoperative damage of the urethral rhabdosphincter (URS) and neurovascular bundle (NVB) is a major operative complication of radical prostatectomy. It is generally recognized to be caused by unavoidable surgical damage to the muscle-nerve-blood vessel units around the urethra. We have identified two stem cell populations in the skeletal muscle that are able to reconstitute the muscle-nerve-blood vessel unit. Thus, we tried to reconstitute post-operative damage of urethral sphincter and NVB using these stem cells. Results showed that transplanted cells differentiated into skeletal muscle fibers, peripheral nerve (Schwann cells, perineurium) and blood vessel (endothelial cells, pericyte) relating cells and facilitated the reconstitution of the muscle-nerve-blood vessel units around the urethra. Supporting these data, significant functional recovery (P<0.05) of urethral sphincter and NBV unit, which was evaluated as urethral pressure profile (UPP) via electrical stimulation, was observed in the cell-transplanted group compared to control group. These findings indicated that transplantation and/or teatment of skeletal muscle-derived stem cells is a useful tool for the reconstitution of reduced urethral function after radical prostatectomy.