Bioengineered endometrial hydrogels with growth factors promote tissue regeneration and restore fertility in murine models
Extracellular matrix (ECM) hydrogels obtained from decellularized tissues are promising biocompatible materials for tissue regeneration. These biomaterials may provide important options for endometrial pathologies such as Asherman's syndrome and endometrial atrophy, which lack effective therapies thus far. First, we performed a proteomic analysis of a decellularized endometrial porcine hydrogel (EndoECM) to describe the specific role of ECM proteins related to regenerative processes. Furthermore, we investigated the ability of a bioengineered system-EndoECM alone or supplemented with growth factors (GFs)-to repair the endometrium in a murine model of endometrial damage. For this model, the …
Stem Cells and the Endometrium: From the Discovery of Adult Stem Cells to Pre-Clinical Models.
Adult stem cells (ASCs) were long suspected to exist in the endometrium. Indeed, several types of endometrial ASCs were identified in rodents and humans through diverse isolation and characterization techniques. Putative stromal and epithelial stem cell niches were identified in murine models using label-retention techniques. In humans, functional methods (clonogenicity, long-term culture, and multi-lineage differentiation assays) and stem cell markers (CD146, SUSD2/W5C5, LGR5, NTPDase2, SSEA-1, or N-cadherin) facilitated the identification of three main types of endogenous endometrial ASCs: stromal, epithelial progenitor, and endothelial stem cells. Further, exogenous populations of stem c…