The Use of Autologous Skeletal Muscle Derived Cells as a Sling in the Treatment of Induced Stress Urinary Incontinence, An Experimental Study in Dogs
Abstract Introduction:This is an experimental pre-clinical study, testing the applicability of autologous skeletal muscle derived cells as a treatment of SUI in canine modelMethods:10 Mongrel dogs included. Skeletal muscle biopsy was harvested in 4. 1 month later, incontinence was induced in 8 dogs through urethrolysis. Muscle biopsy was incubated and expanded for 8 weeks. Muscle derived cells were collected and covered a Polyglycolic acid (PGA) scaffold immersed in culture medium and coated with matrigel to be used as a sling. Placed suburethral in 8 dogs; 4 had cell- seeded and 4 had scaffold only. Urethral pressure (UP) measurement was done at baseline 2 &6 weeks after sling insertion. The urethra was harvested 4 weeks after sling insertion for histopathology.Results:UP shows increase of maximum urethral pressure during static measurement in all dogs with a scaffold inserted. The increase ranged from 5-40 cmH20 Histopathology shows significant periurethral proliferation of skeletal muscles in 4 dogs with cell-seeded scaffold. This was maximum in dogs # 1& 2. This was not the case in the 4 dogs that had sling only.Conclusion: Use of skeletal muscle –seeded PGA scaffold is a practical technique with preserved integrity of histological differentiation in canine model.