Tissue engineering of the bladder.

When gastrointestinal tissue is used for bladder augmentation or replacement, multiple complications may ensue, such as infection, metabolic disturbances, urolithiasis, perforation, increased mucous production, and malignancy. Therefore, alternative methods are being sought for cystoplasty. There has been a resurgence of interest in the use of acellular collagen-based matrices as scaffolds for bladder regeneration. Experimental work involving several collagen matrices, such as allogenic bladder and intestinal tissues, is currently being conducted in several academic centers. Recently, functional bladder tissue has been engineered using selective cell transplantation. The approach that has been followed for bioengineering of bladder tissue involves the use of autologous cells, thus avoiding rejection, whereby a biopsy of tissue is obtained from the host, after which the cells are dissociated and expanded in vitro, reattached to a matrix, and implanted into the same host.