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Research Containing: Regenerative medicine

Simulated Microgravity Maintains the Undifferentiated State and Enhances the Neural Repair Potential of Bone Marrow Stromal Cells

by on 9 June 2015in Biology & Biotechnology No comment

Recently, regenerative medicine with bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) has gained significant attention for the treatment of central nervous system diseases. Here, we investigated the activity of BMSCs under simulated microgravity conditions. Mouse BMSCs (mBMSCs) were isolated from C57BL/6 mice and harvested in 1G condition. Subjects were divided into 4 groups: cultured under simulated microgravity and 1G condition in growth medium and neural differentiation medium. After 7 days of culture, the mBMSCs were used for morphological analysis, reverse transcription (RT)-polymerase chain reaction, immunostaining analysis, and grafting. Neural-induced mBMSCs cultured under 1G conditions exhibited neural differentiation, whereas those cultured under simulated microgravity did not. Moreover, under simulated microgravity conditions, mBMSCs could be cultured in an undifferentiated state. Next, we intravenously injected cells into a mouse model of cerebral contusion. Graft mBMSCs cultured under simulated microgravity exhibited greater survival in the damaged region, and the motor function of the grafted mice improved significantly. mBMSCs cultured under simulated microgravity expressed CXCR4 on their cell membrane. Our study indicates that culturing cells under simulated microgravity enhances their survival rate by maintaining an undifferentiated state of cells, making this a potentially attractive method for culturing donor cells to be used in grafting.

Related URLs:
<Go to ISI>://WOS:000290255300013

Stem cell cultivation in bioreactors

by on 9 June 2015in Biology & Biotechnology No comment

Cell-based therapies have generated great interest in the scientific and medical communities, and stem cells in particular are very appealing for regenerative medicine, drug screening and other biomedical applications. These unspecialized cells have unlimited self-renewal capacity and the remarkable ability to produce mature cells with specialized functions, such as blood cells, nerve cells or cardiac muscle. However, the actual number of cells that can be obtained from available donors is very low. One possible solution for the generation of relevant numbers of cells for several applications is to scale-up the culture of these cells in vitro. This review describes recent developments in the cultivation of stem cells in bioreactors, particularly considerations regarding critical culture parameters, possible bioreactor configurations, and integration of novel technologies in the bioprocess development stage. We expect that this review will provide updated and detailed information focusing on the systematic production of stem cell products in compliance with regulatory guidelines, while using robust and cost-effective approaches. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Related URLs:
<Go to ISI>://WOS:000296821900023

Microscale generation of cardiospheres promotes robust enrichment of cardiomyocytes derived from human pluripotent stem cells

by on 9 June 2015in Biology & Biotechnology No comment

Cardiomyocytes derived from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) are a promising cell source for regenerative medicine, disease modeling, and drug discovery, all of which require enriched cardiomyocytes, ideally ones with mature phenotypes. However, current methods are typically performed in 2D environments that produce immature cardiomyocytes within heterogeneous populations. Here, we generated 3D aggregates of cardiomyocytes (cardiospheres) from 2D differentiation cultures of hPSCs using microscale technology and rotary orbital suspension culture. Nearly 100% of the cardiospheres showed spontaneous contractility and synchronous intracellular calcium transients. Strikingly, from starting heterogeneous populations containing approximately 10%-40% cardiomyocytes, the cell population within the generated cardiospheres featured approximately 80%-100% cardiomyocytes, corresponding to an enrichment factor of up to 7-fold. Furthermore, cardiomyocytes from cardiospheres exhibited enhanced structural maturation in comparison with those from a parallel 2D culture. Thus, generation of cardiospheres represents a simple and robust method for enrichment of cardiomyocytes in microtissues that have the potential use in regenerative medicine as well as other applications.

Related URLs:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25254340
http://www.cell.com/stem-cell-reports/pdf/S2213-6711(14)00188-X.pdf