Bioengineered vocal fold mucosa for functional voice restoration

摘要

An engineered vocal fold mucosa, including an engineered lamina propria layer and an engineered squamous epithelium layer, is disclosed. The engineered lamina propria is made by seeding and culturing human vocal fold fibroblasts within a polymerized collagen scaffold, and the engineered squamous epithelium is made by culturing human vocal fold epithelial cells on the scaffold surface. The resulting engineered vocal fold mucosa is not immunogenic, and is capable of exhibiting the vibratory function and acoustic output of a native vocal fold mucosa. Accordingly, the engineered vocal fold mucosa may be implanted into the larynx to treat voice impairment.