Decellularization techniques of human foreskin for tissue engineering application.

The rapid development of tissue engineering (TE) and regenerative medicine brings an acute need for biocompatible and bioactive biological scaffolds to regenerate or restore damaged tissue. Great attention is focused on the decellularization of tissues or even whole organs, and the subsequent colonization of such decellularized extracellular matrices by recipient cells. The foreskin is an integral, normal part of the external genitalia that forms the anatomical covering of the glans penis and the urinary meatus of all human and non-human primates. It is mucocutaneous tissue that marks the boundary between mucosa and skin. In this work, we compared two innovative decellularization techniques for human foreskins obtained from donors. We compared the efficacy and feasibility of these protocols and the biosafety of prepared acellular dermal matrixes that can serve as a suitable scaffold for TE. The present study confirms the feasibility of foreskin decellularization based on enzymatic or detergent methods. Both techniques conserved the ultrastructure and composition of natural ECM while being DNA-free and non-toxic, making it an excellent scaffold for follow-up research and TE applications.

Ependymal cells surface of human third brain ventricle by scanning electron microscopy.

OBJECTIVES: The ependymal lining of the human brain ventricular system displays distinct structural differences and functional heterogeneity among individual ependymal cells (ECs). To date, multi-ciliated ECs (E1 cells), bi-ciliated ECs (E2 cells), uni-ciliated ECs (E3 cells), ECs without cilia, and ECs with cytoplasmic protrusions have been described in human brain ventricles. METHOD: Using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), we evaluated ependymal samples from 6 defined regions of the third ventricle from 9 human brains. These regions were strictly defined according to the periventricular structures they neighbour with. RESULTS: We observed different structures on the apical surface of the ECs. Various ECs differed from each other by the presence of microvilli, secretory bodies, and a variable number of cilia, which led us to divide the ECs into several exactly specified types according to their apical morphology. CONCLUSION: We found all types of ECs in every examined region with a predominance of particular types of apical surface of ECs in the individual areas (Tab. 4, Fig. 7, Ref. 22).

Labelling of individual ependymal areas in lateral ventricles of human brain: ependymal tables.

Different types of ependymal areas were studied and labelled in the human brain lateral ventricle. Periventricular structures were included in coining the names of the ependymal areas because they represent a basic and stable part of brain nerve structures suitable for the sake of clarity of localization of the ependyma. The labelling of individual ependymal areas was composed from letters: "Lv" (lateral ventricle); "E" (ependymal area) and letters for abbreviations of the closest periventricular structure, e.g. the septum pellucidum is "sp". The labelling for ependymal area over the septum pellucidum is thus "LvE-sp". The studied types of ependymal areas were arranged in so­called ependymal tables for cornu anterius, pars centralis, cornu inferius and cornu posterius of the human lateral ventricle. Labelling of individual ependymal areas allows for better localization and characterisation of these areas in future studies carried out by various methods (e.g. morphological, biological, molecular) and will prevent from using misnomers with different types of ependymal areas in norm as well as in pathology (Tab. 5, Fig. 6, Ref. 22). Text in PDF www.elis.sk.