Autologous urothelial cells transplantation onto a prefabricated capsular stent for tissue engineered ureteral reconstruction.

In this study, we have fabricated an artificial ureter by transplantation of in vitro-expanded urothelial cells onto an in vivo-prefabricated capsular stent using tissue engineering methods. Spiral poly (L-lactic acid) (PLLA) stents were transplanted into the subcutaneous of Wistar rats for a period of 1, 2 or 3 weeks to induce the formation of connective tissue capsules on their surfaces. The capsular PLLA stents were then decellularized and further recellularized with bladder epithelial cells to fabricate artificial ureters. The results showed that the entrapped cells in all capsules remained continuously proliferation and lined up in continuous layers. In addition, the urothelial cells on the capsular stents with an embedding period of 2 or 3 weeks showed higher proliferative viability compared with the cells on the stents with an embedding time of 1 week (P < 0.05). The results of the study indicated that the prefabricated capsular stents could serve as alternative cell carriers for tissue engineered ureters, especially with embedding time from 2 to 3 weeks.