Reconstruction of Abdominal Wall Musculofascial Defects with Small Intestinal Submucosa Scaffolds Seeded with Tenocytes in Rats

The repair of abdominal wall defects following surgery remains a difficult challenge. Although multiple methods have been described to restore the integrity of the abdominal wall, there is no clear consensus on the ideal material for reconstruction. This study explored the feasibility of in vivo reconstruction of a rat model of an abdominal wall defect with a composite scaffold of tenocytes and porcine small intestinal submucosa (SIS). In the current study, we created a 2 x 1.5 cm abdominal wall defect in the anterolateral abdominal wall of Sprague-Dawley rats, which were assigned into three groups: the cell-SIS construct group, the cell-free SIS scaffold group, and the abdominal wall defect group. Tenocytes were obtained from the tendons of rat limbs. After isolation and expansion, cells (2 x 10(7)/mL) were seeded onto the three-layer SIS scaffolds and cultured in vitro for 5 days. Cell-SIS constructs or cell-free constructs were implanted to repair the abdominal wall defects. The results showed that the tenocytes could grow on the SIS scaffold and secreted corresponding matrices. In addition, both scaffolds could repair the abdominal wall defects with no hernia recurrence. In comparison to the cell-free SIS scaffold, the composite scaffold exhibited increased vascular regeneration and mechanical strength. Furthermore, following increased time in vivo, the mechanical strength of the composite scaffold became stronger. The results indicate that the composite scaffold can provide increased mechanical strength that may be suitable for repairing abdominal wall defects.