At around six percent of all women who can not have children, the uterus is the Problem. In some cases, the patients suffering from congenital malformations of this organ. Others have from birth no Uterus or the uterus had to be because of tumors or other diseases away. Long, this meant a untreatable infertility. However, in the year 2014, the successful Transplantation of a uterus opened up new opportunities. The dispenser body of a strange woman helped another to pregnancy. However, such a transplant requires a suitable donor organ is available, which is rarely the case. Worldwide so far around 70 have been carried out, such a uterus transplants. For the recipients, the risk of a rejection reaction in addition, so you will need to take immunosuppressive agent.

organ of breeding in the laboratory

An Alternative to the Transplantation of a donor organ, the Breed and the Insertion of a replacement organ from your own cells, the patient would be. "Minimizing the risk of immunological rejection, and also reduces the risk of disease transmission," explained Renata Magalhaes and their colleagues from the Wake Forest University. While this method of tissue - and organ-breeding with other institutions already has made great progress and the first replacement were used tissue for the bladder, the Vagina or the ureters, when people, in the womb, as yet, not possible. Although researchers have succeeded already, in experiment on an animal minor damage to the uterus through the bred replacement tissue to repair. The entire Organ has not been bred skins with its complex structure from muscle layer, and inner mucous membrane, however, is still in the laboratory and implanted.

This is managed Magalhaes and their Team now. For their study, the researchers took skin first of several rabbit females cells from the uterine mucosa and the outer muscular layer. These cells have put it on the Inside and the outside of about six to eight centimeters long and 2.5 centimeters thick scaffold from a biodegradable Polymer. This size corresponds approximately to the one of the two uterine horns, the have rabbit females. The cell cultures were incubated for a few weeks, until a uterus-like Organ around the soft scaffold had formed. The Transplantation was followed: The researchers took 78 rabbit females of both uterine horns. A part of the animals received then a replacement uterine horn from the cell culture, the other rabbit was just implanted into the polymer scaffold without cells.

a Healthy rabbit boy from the planted womb

according to the researchers, a growth in the replacement organ in the rabbit female well. As had dissolved after three months, the polymer backbone, was grown in the lab-grown tissue to a uterine horn that had the normal uterus inner mucosal and outer muscle layer. Also glands, blood vessels and the uterus is typical of hormone receptors had formed. "Taken together, these results suggest that by means of Tissue Engineering cultured Uteri had developed to the typical hollow organs with vessels supplied uterine tissue," said Magalhaes and their colleagues. Six months after the Transplantation of replacement organs is the crucial Test then followed: The rabbit females were allowed to mate.

In four of ten rabbits came to a successful pregnancy. The embryo nested in the implanted uterus horns and grew up quite normal. "The cultured uterine horns responded as their natural Counterparts on the expansion and mechanical stress of the pregnancy. The bodies grew with the developing rabbit boy, and supplied it with the necessary nutrients. "The fetal development of boys was normal and the offspring had at the birth of similar size and weight as the rabbit boy from normal Uteri, reported Magalhaes' colleague Anthony Atala. "Our study shows that even laboratory-grown uterine tissue can withstand a normal pregnancy." According to the researchers, this opens up the Chance in the future of human women with those from cells grown replacement organs to make offspring. Until it is ready, though, needs to be tested, the method is still used extensively in other animals. In addition, the success rate is four out of ten pregnancies is still rather low.

source: Renata Magalhaes (Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem) et al., Nature Biotechnology, doi: 10.1038/s41587-020-0547-7

*The contribution of "A uterus from the lab," published by Wissenschaft.de. Contact with the executives here.

Wissenschaft.de

Date Of Update: 29 June 2020, 12:26