Development of a Bronchial Wall Model: Triple Culture on a Decellularized Porcine Trachea

^*

Contributed equally.

Address correspondence to: Charles James Kirkpatrick, MD, PhD, DSc, FRCPath, Institute of Pathology, University Medical Center, Johannes Gutenberg University, Langenbeckstrasse 1, Mainz D-55101, Germany, E-mail: [email protected]

Introduction

A number of respiratory diseases (such as infection, subglottic stenosis, trauma, and cancer) can cause severe damage to the upper airways.¹ In many cases, the only possible treatment is to perform orthotopic transplantation.² However, there is a marked shortage of available organ donors to meet current demands. Therefore, innovative solutions are required and regenerative medicine techniques have emerged as a promising approach for functional organ replacement.^3-5 In this context, the use of decellularized scaffolds obtained from native tissue has been a relevant advance, which in individual cases is reaching clinical application.^6,7 This success can be explained by the fact that the naturally occurring three-dimensional extracellular matrix (ECM) has intrinsic properties that closely match the biological requirement of the cells to achieve recellularization.⁸ Nevertheless, many questions remain to be answered, for instance, which cell type, and which recellularization technique(s) should be used, and how they can be optimized. Thus, having suitable in vitro models could permit further studies on the optimization of the recellularization process. Moreover, recreating a tracheal model that resembles more closely the native tissue would be a valuable tool for the pharmacology field since it could provide a platform, in which inhalable drugs and compounds with action on the airways could be screened.

The mucosa of the airway exerts an important function in the protection against inhaled drugs and compounds, including particulate matter. Epithelial cells form a barrier that blocks the...