Artificial uterus
Regenerative medicine and tissue engineering technologies have become an attractive option to overcome the shortage of donor organs and other limitations of transplantation from donors.
Researchers from the Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM) are world leaders in the field of regenerative medicine, here for the first time a number of basic principles of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine were developed. Their strategy of creating bioengineered functional tissues using the patient's own cells grown on biodegradable scaffolds has been effectively studied in preclinical studies and has been successfully used in humans to restore the function of hollow organs.
Using the same strategy, bioengineers constructed the uterus – a more complex organ with high functional requirements, including support for embryo implantation and fetal development. The new protocol, with further development, is able to provide treatment for women with inability to conceive due to dysfunctional uterine infertility.
Researchers have shown in animal models that the bioengineered uterus has tissues and structures similar to the natural prototype and necessary to maintain normal reproductive function.
The study proved that the engineered uterus is able to support normal pregnancy and the development of offspring with a size and weight comparable to those of a natural offspring.
Rabbits are actively used in reproductive biology research and are ideal for studies of uterine tissue regeneration, since they have a relatively large uterus compared to other laboratory animals. It has no body, but consists of two horns and two necks. Both necks with their caudal ends open into the vagina, so sometimes embryos from the first mating develop in one horn, and from the second in the other.
The researchers randomized female rabbits into four groups: (1) a group implanted with a bioengineered uterus grown from the animals' own cells; (2) a group implanted with polymer scaffolds unfilled with cells; (3) a control group that underwent uterine removal and (4) a normal control group that underwent a false laparotomy.
Computed tomography of a bionengineered rabbit uterus with a live fetus inside.
Biodegradable polymer frame structures were custom-made for each animal. The cells needed to regenerate the uterine tissue and fill the scaffolds were cultured and grown from the uterine structures of each rabbit. Six months after the implantation procedure, the carcasses of the females were naturally mated with fertile male rabbits.
Rabbits from the first group, who were implanted with a bioengineered uterus (a skeleton filled with stem cells), demonstrated a normal course of pregnancy.
Thus, the study opens up new possibilities for the creation of tissue substitutes from the patient's own cells and the treatment of uterine defects.
Uterus transplantation from deceased and living donors to patients has shown promise as a treatment for uterine infertility, but it requires the use of immunosuppressive therapy. To date, about 70 uterus transplants have been performed worldwide. In the USA, fewer than 10 children were born from mothers with a transplanted uterus.
The new strategy of creating uterine tissue from the patient's own cells will avoid the need to transplant an organ from a deceased or living donor, as well as avoid the risk of rejection and the need to use immunity-suppressing drugs.
Article by R.S.Magalhaes et al. A tissue-engineered uterus supports live births in rabbits is published in the journal Nature Biotechnology.
Aminat Adzhieva, portal "Eternal Youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on EurekAlert: WFIRM scientists prove bioengineered uteri support pregnancy.