Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells stimulated by bFGF up-regulated protein expression in comparison with periodontal fibroblasts in vitro

Bone marrow coagulated and low-level laser therapy accelerate bone healing by enhancing angiogenesis, cell proliferation, osteoblast differentiation, and mineralization

The present study evaluated bone marrow aspirate (BMA) and low-level laser therapy (LLLT) on bone healing. It was created critical-size defects (CSD) of 5 mm diameter in rat calvaria of 64 rats. Animals were randomly divided into four groups: Control (blood clot), BMA (coagulated BMA), LLLT (laser irradiation and blood clot), and BMA/LLLT (laser irradiation and coagulated BMA). Euthanasia was performed at 15 or 30 days postoperative. Immunohistochemical reactions were performed to identify vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), runt-related transcription factor-2 (Runx2), bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2), osteocalcin (OCN), and osteopontin (OPN). The markers were quantified, and data were statistically analyzed. Groups BMA/LLLT and LLLT presented significantly higher VEGF expression than group control. Group BMA/LLLT presented a significantly higher expression of PCNA than all experimental groups. Groups BMA and BMA/LLLT presented significantly higher expression of BMP-2 than all experimental groups. Groups LLLT and BMA/LLLT presented significantly higher expression of OPN than groups control and BMA. Groups LLLT, BMA, and BMA/LLLT presented a significantly higher expression of OCN than group control. It can be concluded that the association of BMA and LLLT enhanced bone healing by improving expression of VEGF, PCNA, Runx2, BMP-2, OPN, and OCN.

A Protocol for the Isolation, Culture, and Cryopreservation of Umbilical Cord-Derived Canine Mesenchymal Stromal Cells: Role of Cell Attachment in Long-Term Maintenance

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) hold great promise in the field of regenerative medicine due to their ability to create a variable localized anti-inflammatory effect in injuries such as Crohn's disease and osteoarthritis or by incorporation in tissue engineered constructs. Currently, the MSC literature uses rodents for preclinical disease models. There is growing interest in using naturally occurring disease in large animals for modeling human disease. By review of the canine MSCs literature, it appears that canine MSCs can be difficult to maintain in culture for extended passages and this greatly varies between tissue sources, compared with human and rodent MSCs, and limited lifespan is an obstacle for preclinical investigation and therapeutic use. Research using canine MSCs has been focused on cells derived from bone marrow or adipose tissue, and the differences in manufacturing MSCs between laboratories are problematic due to lack of standardization. To address these issues, here, a stepwise process was used to optimize canine MSCs isolation, expansion, and cryopreservation utilizing canine umbilical cord-derived MSCs. The culture protocol utilizes coating of tissue culture surfaces that increases cellular adherence, increases colony-forming units-fibroblast efficiency, and decreases population doubling times. Canine MSCs isolated with our protocol could be maintained longer than published canine MSCs methods before senescing. Our improved cryopreservation protocols produce on average >90% viable MSCs at thaw. These methods enable master-bank and working-bank scenarios for allogeneic MSC testing in naturally occurring disease in dogs.

Fabrication and Characterization of Core-Shell Nanofibers Using a Next-Generation Airbrush for Biomedical Applications

The core-shell polymeric nanofiber, owing to its better controlled release of embedded or encapsulated drugs in contrast with the single-compartment nanofibers, has been extensively studied for biomedical applications such as tissue engineering and wound healing. Electrospinning with co-axial needles is the dominant technique to fabricate nanofiber mat, however, associated with potential limitations such as high voltage requirement, costly equipment, slow deposition rate, required trained personal, not suitable in situ fabrication, and direct deposition of core-shell nanofibers on the wound at patient bedside. To address the above limitations, the work aims to introduce a novel co-axial airbrushing method to fabricate core-shell nanofibers using a simple setup and low-cost equipment, yet having a unique ability for fabrication at patient bedside and direct deposition on wound bed. Air-brush with a coaxial needle is designed to flow two different polymers solution with model biomolecules through core [PEO (polyethylene oxide)/poly-dl-lactide/PCL (polycaprolactone)] and shell (PCL/PEO) needle for the fabrication of the model core-shell nanofiber. Various processing parameters such as flow rate, air pressure, working distance, and concentration of polymer solution which affect the morphology of core-shell nanofibers were studied and found to have a prominent effect. The PCL-PEO nanofiber possesses a defined shell and core structure, tunable sustained release behavior of model proteins (bovine serum albumin and basic fibroblast growth factor; bFGF), and improved mechanical strength. In vitro interaction of human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells with core-shell fibers demonstrated the cytocompatibility and proliferative and differentiative (for bFGF loaded) properties of the core-shell nanofiber mat. Co-axial airbrushing can be used as a superior less-expensive technique for the fabrication of biomolecules/drug encapsulated core-shell fibers scaffold at patient bedside, which can mimic complex in vivo environment and could modulate cells behavior close to their in vivo condition for tissue regeneration and wound healing.

Overexpression of Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1 Enhanced the Osteogenic Capability of Aging Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Many studies have indicated that loss of the osteoblastogenic potential in bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (bmMSCs) is the major component in the etiology of the aging-related bone deficit. But how the bmMSCs lose osteogenic capability in aging is unclear. Using 2-dimentional cultures, we examined the dose response of human bmMSCs, isolated from adult and aged donors, to exogenous insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), a growth factor regulating bone formation. The data showed that the mitogenic activity and the osteoblastogenic potential of bmMSCs in response to IGF-1 were impaired with aging, whereas higher doses of IGF-1 increased the proliferation rate and osteogenic potential of aging bmMSCs. Subsequently, we seeded IGF-1-overexpressing aging bmMSCs into calcium-alginate scaffolds and incubated in a bioreactor with constant perfusion for varying time periods to examine the effect of IGF-1 overexpression to the bone-forming capability of aging bmMSCs. We found that IGF-1 overexpression in aging bmMSCs facilitated the formation of cell clusters in scaffolds, increased the cell survival inside the cell clusters, induced the expression of osteoblast markers, and enhanced the biomineralization of cell clusters. These results indicated that IGF-1 overexpression enhanced cells' osteogenic capability. Thus, our data suggest that the aging-related loss of osteogenic potential in bmMSCs can be attributed in part to the impairment in bmMSCs' IGF-1 signaling, and support possible application of IGF-1-overexpressing autologous bmMSCs in repairing bone defect of the elderly and in producing bone graft materials for repairing large scale bone injury in the elderly.

Molecular Imaging for Comparison of Different Growth Factors on Bone Marrow-Derived Mesenchymal Stromal Cells' Survival and Proliferation In Vivo

Introduction. Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (BMSCs) have emerged as promising cell candidates but with poor survival after transplantation. This study was designed to investigate the efficacy of VEGF, bFGF, and IGF-1 on BMSCs' viability and proliferation both in vivo and in vitro using bioluminescence imaging (BLI). Methods. BMSCs were isolated from β-actin-Fluc⁺ transgenic FVB mice, which constitutively express firefly luciferase. Apoptosis was induced by hypoxia preconditioning for up to 24 h followed by flow cytometry and TUNEL assay. 10⁶ BMSCs with/without growth factors were injected subcutaneously into wild type FVB mice's backs. Survival of BMSCs was longitudinally monitored using bioluminescence imaging (BLI) for 5 weeks. Protein expression of Akt, p-Akt, PARP, and caspase-3 was detected by Western blot. Results. Hypoxia-induced apoptosis was significantly attenuated by bFGF and IGF-1 compared with VEGF and control group in vitro (P < 0.05). When combined with matrigel, IGF-1 showed the most beneficial effects in protecting BMSCs from apoptosis in vivo. The phosphorylation of Akt had a higher ratio in the cells from IGF-1 group. Conclusion. IGF-1 could protect BMSCs from hypoxia-induced apoptosis through activation of p-Akt/Akt pathway.

Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor Stimulates the Proliferation of Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca)

It has been widely known that the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is one of the most endangered species in the world. An optimized platform for maintaining the proliferation of giant panda mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is very necessary for current giant panda protection strategies. Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), a member of the FGF family, is widely considered as a growth factor and differentiation inducer within the stem cell research field. However, the role of bFGF on promoting the proliferation of MSCs derived from giant panda bone marrow (BM) has not been reported. In this study, we aimed to investigate the role of bFGF on the proliferation of BM-MSCs derived from giant panda. MSCs were cultured for cell proliferation analysis at 24, 48 and 72 hrs following the addition of bFGF. With increasing concentrations of bFGF, cell numbers gradually increased. This was further demonstrated by performing 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2-H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) cell proliferation assay, 5-Bromo-2-deoxyUridine (BrdU) labeling and cell cycle testing. Furthermore, the percentage of MSCs that were OCT4 positive increased slightly following treatment with 5 ng/ml bFGF. Moreover, we demonstrated that the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signaling pathway may play an important role in the proliferation of panda MSCs stimulated by bFGF. In conclusion, this study suggests that giant panda BM-MSCs have a high proliferative capacity with the addition of 5 ng/ml bFGF in vitro.