Department of Urology, University Hospital Tübingen.
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University Hospital Tübingen.
J Vis Exp. 2021 Nov 23(177). doi: 10.3791/63132.
Urinary incontinence (UI) is a highly prevalent condition characterized by the deficiency of the urethral sphincter muscle. Regenerative medicine branches, particularly cell therapy, are novel approaches to improve and restore the urethral sphincter function. Even though injection of active functional cells is routinely performed in clinical settings by needle and syringe, these approaches have significant disadvantages and limitations. In this context, needle-free waterjet (WJ) technology is a feasible and innovative method that can inject viable cells by visual guided cystoscopy in the urethral sphincter. In the present study, we used WJ to deliver porcine adipose tissue-derived stromal cells (pADSCs) into cadaveric urethral tissue and subsequently investigated the effect of WJ delivery on cell yield and viability. We also assessed the biomechanical features (i.e., elasticity) by atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements. We showed that WJ delivered pADSCs were significantly reduced in their cellular elasticity. The viability was significantly lower compared to controls but is still above 80%.
尿失禁（UI）是一种普遍存在的疾病，其特征是尿道括约肌肌肉功能不足。再生医学分支，特别是细胞治疗，是改善和恢复尿道括约肌功能的新方法。尽管通过针和注射器在临床环境中常规进行活性功能细胞的注射，但这些方法存在显著的缺点和限制。在这种情况下，无针水射流（WJ）技术是一种可行的创新方法，可以通过尿道镜检查将有活力的细胞通过视觉引导注入尿道括约肌中。在本研究中，我们使用 WJ 将猪脂肪组织来源的基质细胞（pADSCs）输送到尸体尿道组织中，随后研究了 WJ 输送对细胞产量和活力的影响。我们还通过原子力显微镜（AFM）测量评估了生物力学特性（即弹性）。我们表明，WJ 输送的 pADSCs 的细胞弹性明显降低。与对照组相比，活力明显降低，但仍高于 80%。
