One of the most exciting areas of bladder research is development of new methods of bladder augmentation which avoid the use of intestinal segments. The acellular matrix is prepared by incubating the bladders or stomachs of adult rats in distilled water for one hour to lyses the cells and to release intracellular contents. This process is repeated 1 to 3 times to extract all cellular material.
Histologic confirmation shows an absence of cells.
The preparation of the acellular matrix is designed to avoid complete removal of potentially important growth factors, as well as other extracellular matrix ligands. After suturing the acellular matrix patch in place, animals were sacrificed at serial time points to specifically study the interface between the native bladder and the acellular matrix tissue. A model of bladder regeneration with an acellular tissue matrix shows that urothelium, smooth muscle and nerves can grow into the tissue matrix most likely under the influence of stromal-epithelial cellular communication. Neovascularization was seen by 2 weeks and neural elements from the native bladder formed around the developing bundles of smooth muscle as early as 4 weeks. These animals were able to void and function normally.