Development of a Bladder Bioreactor for Tissue Engineering in Urology.

A urinary bladder bioreactor was constructed to replicate physiological bladder dynamics. A cyclical low-delivery pressure regulator mimicked filling pressures of the human bladder. Cell growth was evaluated by culturing human urothelial cells (UCs) on porcine extracellular matrix scaffolds (ECMs) in the bioreactor and in static growth conditions for 5 consecutive days. UC proliferation was compared with quantitative viability indicators and by fluorescent markers for intracellular esterase activity and plasma membrane integrity. Scaffold integrity was characterized with scanning electron microscopy and 4,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole staining.