Punch and spindle-shaped biopsies for collecting oral mucosal tissue for the fabrication of transplantable autologous epithelial cell sheets.

The oral mucosa is an easily accessible source of cells. Oral mucosal collection will be an essential surgical procedure for regenerative medicine and cell biological research. However, there is no current report that describes the details of the surgical procedure used for oral mucosal collection. Moreover, the number of cells that can be obtained has not been determined. Two different procedures, the punch biopsy and the spindle-shaped biopsy, were performed for the fabrication of transplantable autologous epithelial cell sheets. The mean values of the cells collected per square centimeter of tissue using the punch biopsy and the spindle-shaped biopsy were 76.8 ± 45 × 10(4) cells/cm(2) and 195.7 ± 120 × 10(4) cells/cm(2), respectively. There was no significant difference between the punch biopsy and the spindle-shaped biopsy. The coefficient of variation of the punch biopsy and the spindle-shaped biopsy was 58.9% and 69.8%, respectively. This result indicated that both procedures showed variations in the number of collected cells. Although the punch biopsy may be easier and simpler than the spindle-shaped biopsy, multiple punch biopsies may result in a more complicated procedure, and the spindle-shaped biopsy may be preferable when a large number of cells is necessary.