Thoracoscopic cell sheet transplantation with a novel device

Regenerative medicine with transplantable cell sheets fabricated on temperature-responsive culture surfaces has been successfully achieved in clinical applications, including skin and cornea treatment. Previously, we reported that transplantation of fibroblast cell sheets to wounded lung had big advantages for sealing intraoperative air leaks compared with conventional materials. Here, we report a novel device forminimally invasive transplantation of cell sheets in endoscopic surgery, such as video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS). The novel device was designed with a computer-aided design (CAD) system, and the three-dimensional (3D) data were transferred to a 3D printer. With this rapid prototyping system, the cell sheet transplantation device was fabricated using a commercially available photopolymer approved for clinical use. Square cell sheets (24x24 mm) were successfully transplanted onto wound sites of porcine lung placed in a human body model, with the device inserted through a 12 mm port. Such a device would enable less invasive transplantation of cell sheets onto a wide variety of internal organs.