Tissue engineering of human oral mucosa on different scaffolds for clinical applications

In oral and maxillofacial surgery, there is a great demand for oral mucosa for intraoral grafting after tumor dissections or traumas. In this study, three different scaffolds were tested for suitability as a carrier for a three-dimensional reconstruction of human autologous oral mucosa for clinical applications. For this purpose, primary human oral fibroblasts and keratinocytes were cultured and increased in vitro. They were seeded on TissuFoil E (TFE), Dermal Regeneration Template Single Layer (DRT) and Vicryl to create full-thickness reconstructions of oral mucosa. First only fibroblasts were seeded on scaffolds and pre-cultured for 7 days to obtain dermal equivalents (DEs). Then keratinocytes were seeded on DEs to develop organotypic co-cultures. They were cultured for 7 and 14 days to get oral mucosa substitutes (OMEs). Immunohistochemical staining for CD90, cytokeratin 14 and collagen IV indicated cell growth on all used matrices. In OMEs on Vicryl, no natural formation of the cells but good biostability of the scaffold could be shown. TFE provided the best cell growth with good stratification and natural arrangement of epithelial and dermal components with basement membrane formation but bad biostability. Good biostability and good cell growth with weak stratification of keratinocytes could be seen on the DRT-construct. For this reason, we consider DRT to be the most suitable for its intended use.