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Biotechnology

A new-for-old urinary bladder

Nature volume 398, pages 198–199 (1999)Cite this article

In an astonishing feat of tissue engineering, described in last month's Nature Biotechnology by Oberpenning et al.1, a functional dog bladder has been reconstructed from cells that were obtained by biopsy of the bladder wall and guided over degradable polymers built into a bladder shape. This achievement may open the way for bladder replacement in patients who have lost their own bladders as a result of disease2.

First, Oberpenning et al. isolated smooth-muscle cells from the outside and urothelial cells from the inside of the bladder wall, then expanded them in culture for four weeks before seeding the smooth-muscle cells onto the outer surface of a bladder-shaped polyester textile and the urothelial cells onto the inner surface. Finally, they implanted these constructs into dogs who had had most of their own bladders removed — and the new bladder wall performed successfully for the next year, enabling the reconstructed bladder to substitute for the real thing.

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Figure 1: Histology of the urinary bladder implants after surgery.

References

  1. Oberpenning, F., Meng, J., Yoo, J. J. & Atala, A. Nature Biotechnol. 17, 149–155 (1999).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Institute for Biomedical Engineering and Department of Materials, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) and University of Zurich, Moussonstrasse 18, CH-8044, Zurich, Switzerland

    Jeffrey A. Hubbell

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  1. Jeffrey A. Hubbell
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Hubbell, J. A new-for-old urinary bladder. Nature 398, 198–199 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/18322

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