A Robotic System with Robust Remote Center of Motion Constraint for Endometrial Regeneration Surgery

Surgical robots have been widely used in diferent procedures to improve and facilitate the surgery.However,there is no robot designed for endometrial regeneration surgery,which is a new therapy for restoring fertility in women using stem cells.Endometrial regeneration surgery requires processing of the endometrium and transplantation of stem cells with minimal trauma to the uterus.In this paper,we introduce a surgical robotic system that consists of a dexterous hysteroscope,supporting arm,and additional novel instruments to facilitate the operation and decrease trauma to the uterus.Remote center of motion(RCM)constraint is required to protect the cervix of the uterus.First,the supporting arm and hysteroscope are controlled separately in kinematics to ensure that the RCM constraint and hysteroscope’s shape and posture are predictable.Then,a task-decoupled method is used to improve the robustness of the RCM constraint.Experiments confrm that the proposed method is more robust and achieves higher RCM accuracy.In addition,the master-slave control of a robot with RCM constraint is also verifed.This study proposes the realization of a robot with robust RCM control for endometrial regeneration surgery.

Effect of autologous bone marrow stem cells-scaffold transplantation on the ongoing pregnancy rate in intrauterine adhesion women:a randomized,controlled trial

Intrauterine adhesion is a major cause of female reproductive disorders.Although we and others uncontrolled pilot studies showed that treatment with autologous bone marrow stem cells made a few patients with severe intrauterine adhesion obtain live birth,no large sample randomized controlled studies on this therapeutic strategy in such patients have been reported so far.To verify if the therapy of autologous bone marrow stem cells-scaffold is superior to traditional treatment in moderate to severe intrauterine adhesion patients in increasing their ongoing pregnancy rate,we conducted this randomized controlled clinical trial.Totally 195 participants with moderate to severe intrauterine adhesion were screened and 152 of them were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to either group with autologous bone marrow stem cells-scaffold plus Foley balloon catheter or group with only Foley balloon catheter(control group)from February 2016 to January 2020.The per-protocol analysis included 140 participants:72 in bone marrow stem cells-scaffold group and 68 in control group.The ongoing pregnancy occurred in 45/72(62.5%)participants in the bone marrow stem cells-scaffold group which was significantly higher than that in the control group(28/68,41.2%)(RR=1.52,95%CI 1.08–2.12,P=0.012).The situation was similar in live birth rate(bone marrow stem cells-scaffold group 56.9%(41/72)vs.control group 38.2%(26/68),RR=1.49,95%CI 1.04–2.14,P=0.027).Compared with control group,participants in bone marrow stem cells-scaffold group showed more menstrual blood volume in the 3rd and 6th cycles and maximal endometrial thickness in the 6th cycle after hysteroscopic adhesiolysis.The incidence of mild placenta accrete was increased in bone marrow stem cells-scaffold group and no severe adverse effects were observed.In conclusion,transplantation of bone marrow stem cells-scaffold into uterine cavities of the participants with moderate to severe intrauterine adhesion increased their ongoing pregnancy and live birth rates,and this therapy was relatively safe.

In situ delivery of apoptotic bodies derived from mesenchymal stem cells via a hyaluronic acid hydrogel:A therapy for intrauterine adhesions

Stem cell-based and stem cell-derived exosome-based therapies have shown promising potential for endometrial regeneration and the clinical treatment of intrauterine adhesions(IUAs).Evidence shows that apoptosis occurs in a majority of grafted stem cells,and apoptotic bodies(ABs)play a critical role in compensatory tissue regeneration.However,the therapeutic potential of AB-based therapy and its mechanism have not been explored in detail.Here,a cell-free therapeutic strategy was developed by incorporating mesenchymal stem cell-derived ABs into a hyaluronic acid(HA)hydrogel to achieve endometrial regeneration and fertility restoration.Specifically,we found that the ABs could induce macrophage immunomodulation,cell proliferation,and angiogenesis in vitro.The HA hydrogel promoted the retention of ABs and facilitated their continuous release.In a murine model of acute endometrial damage and a rat model of IUAs,in situ injection of the AB-laden HA hydrogel could efficiently reduce fibrosis and promote endometrial regeneration,resulting in the fertility restoration.Consequently,ABs show good potential as therapeutic vesicles,and the AB-laden HA hydrogel appears to be a clinically feasible and cell-free alternative for endometrial regeneration and IUA treatment.

Transplantation of collagen scaffold with autologous bone marrow mononuclear cells promotes functional endometrium reconstruction via downregulating ΔNp63 expression in Asherman＇s syndrome

Asherman's syndrome(AS) is a common disease that presents endometrial regeneration disorder. However, little is known about its molecular features of this aregenerative endometrium in AS and how to reconstruct the functioning endometrium for the patients with AS. Here, we report that ΔNp63 is significantly upregulated in residual epithelial cells of the impaired endometrium in AS; the upregulated-ΔNp63 induces endometrial quiescence and alteration of stemness. Importantly, we demonstrate that engrafting high density of autologous bone marrow mononuclear cells(BMNCs) loaded in collagen scaffold onto the uterine lining of patients with AS downregulates ΔNp63 expression, reverses ΔNp63-induced pathological changes, normalizes the stemness alterations and restores endometrial regeneration. Finally, five patients achieved successful pregnancies and live births. Therefore, we conclude that ΔNp63 is a crucial therapeutic target for AS. This novel treatment significantly improves the outcome for the patients with severe AS.