Cells Tissues OrgansPub Date : 2023-01-01Epub Date: 2022-01-10DOI: 10.1159/000521752
Abigail J Clevenger, Logan Z Crawford, Dillon Noltensmeyer, Hamed Babaei, Samuel B Mabbott, Reza Avazmohammadi, Shreya Raghavan
{"title":"Rapid Prototypable Biomimetic Peristalsis Bioreactor Capable of Concurrent Shear and Multi-Axial Strain.","authors":"Abigail J Clevenger, Logan Z Crawford, Dillon Noltensmeyer, Hamed Babaei, Samuel B Mabbott, Reza Avazmohammadi, Shreya Raghavan","doi":"10.1159/000521752","DOIUrl":"10.1159/000521752","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Peristalsis is a nuanced mechanical stimulus comprised of multi-axial strain (radial and axial strain) and shear stress. Forces associated with peristalsis regulate diverse biological functions including digestion, reproductive function, and urine dynamics. Given the central role peristalsis plays in physiology and pathophysiology, we were motivated to design a bioreactor capable of holistically mimicking peristalsis. We engineered a novel rotating screw-drive based design combined with a peristaltic pump, in order to deliver multi-axial strain and concurrent shear stress to a biocompatible polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membrane \"wall.\" Radial indentation and rotation of the screw drive against the wall demonstrated multi-axial strain evaluated via finite element modeling. Experimental measurements of strain using piezoelectric strain resistors were in close alignment with model-predicted values (15.9 ± 4.2% vs. 15.2% predicted). Modeling of shear stress on the \"wall\" indicated a uniform velocity profile and a moderate shear stress of 0.4 Pa. Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) seeded on the PDMS \"wall\" and stimulated with peristalsis demonstrated dramatic changes in actin filament alignment, proliferation, and nuclear morphology compared to static controls, perfusion, or strain, indicating that hMSCs sensed and responded to peristalsis uniquely. Lastly, significant differences were observed in gene expression patterns of calponin, caldesmon, smooth muscle actin, and transgelin, corroborating the propensity of hMSCs toward myogenic differentiation in response to peristalsis. Collectively, our data suggest that the peristalsis bioreactor is capable of generating concurrent multi-axial strain and shear stress on a \"wall.\" hMSCs experience peristalsis differently than perfusion or strain, resulting in changes in proliferation, actin fiber organization, smooth muscle actin expression, and genetic markers of differentiation. The peristalsis bioreactor device has broad utility in the study of development and disease in several organ systems.</p>","PeriodicalId":9717,"journal":{"name":"Cells Tissues Organs","volume":"212 1","pages":"96-110"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9271135/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9133140","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cells Tissues OrgansPub Date : 2023-01-01Epub Date: 2022-04-25DOI: 10.1159/000524692
Katelyn E Neuman, Aidan Kenny, Lily Shi, Abigail N Koppes, Ryan A Koppes
{"title":"Complex Material Properties of Gel-Amin: A Transparent and Ionically Conductive Hydrogel for Neural Tissue Engineering.","authors":"Katelyn E Neuman, Aidan Kenny, Lily Shi, Abigail N Koppes, Ryan A Koppes","doi":"10.1159/000524692","DOIUrl":"10.1159/000524692","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The field of tissue engineering has benefited greatly from the broad development of natural and synthetic polymers. Extensive work in neural engineering has demonstrated the value of conductive materials to improve spontaneous neuron activity as well as lowering the necessary field parameters for exogenous electrical stimulation. Further, cell fate is directly coupled to the mechanical properties of the cell culture substrate. Increasing the conductivity of hydrogel materials often necessitates the addition of dopant materials that facilitate electron mobility. However, very little electron transfer is observed in native cell signaling and most of these materials are opaque, severely limiting microscopy applications commonly employed to assess cell culture morphology and function. To overcome these shortcomings, the inclusion of an ionic liquid, choline acrylate, into the backbone of a modified collagen polymer increases the bulk conductivity 5-fold at a 1:1 ratio while maintaining optical transmission of visible light. Here, we explore how the inclusion of choline acrylate influences bulk material properties including the mechanical, swelling, and optical properties of our hydrogels, referred to as Gel-Amin hydrogels, as a material for tissue culture. Despite an increase in swelling over traditional GelMA materials, the conductive hydrogels support whole dorsal root ganglia encapsulation and outgrowth. Our results indicate that our Gel-Amin system holds potential for neural engineering applications and lowering the required charge injection for the application of exogenous electrical stimulation. This is this first time an ionic liquid-hydrogel system has been used to culture and support primary neurons in vitro.</p>","PeriodicalId":9717,"journal":{"name":"Cells Tissues Organs","volume":"212 1","pages":"45-63"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11149052/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9139106","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"An Electrochemical Protocol for CRISPR-Mediated Gene-Editing of Sheep Embryonic Fibroblast Cells.","authors":"Shahin Eghbalsaied, Wilfried A Kues","doi":"10.1159/000521128","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1159/000521128","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Genetic engineering of farm animals is commonly carried out via cell-mediated transfection followed by somatic cell nuclear transfer. However, efficient transfer of exogenous DNA into ovine embryonic fibroblast (EF) cells without compromising cell viability has remained a challenging issue. Here, we aimed to develop a protocol for electrotransfection of sheep EF cells. First, we optimized the pulsing condition using an OptiMEM-GlutaMAX medium as the electroporation buffer and found 2 pulses of 270 V, each for 10 ms and 10 s interval, is the most efficient condition to have a high rate of transfection and cell survival. Moreover, supplementing 3% dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) into the electroporation medium considerably improved the cell viability after the electroporation process. The electroporation procedure resulted in >98% transfection efficiency and >97% cell survival rate using reporter plasmids. Finally, using CRISPR/Cas9-encoding vectors, we targeted BMP15 and GDF9 genes in sheep EF cells. The electroporated cells are associated with a 52% indels rate using single gRNAs as well as a highly efficient target deletion using 2 gRNAs. In conclusion, we have developed an electrotransfection protocol using the OptiMEM-GlutaMAX medium supplemented with 3% DMSO for sheep EF cells. The electroporation method can be used for cell-mediated gene-editing in sheep.</p>","PeriodicalId":9717,"journal":{"name":"Cells Tissues Organs","volume":"212 2","pages":"176-184"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9401303","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cells Tissues OrgansPub Date : 2023-01-01Epub Date: 2023-04-18DOI: 10.1159/000530712
Beth Blake, Tugba Ozdemir
{"title":"Developing Fibrous Biomaterials to Modulate Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition.","authors":"Beth Blake, Tugba Ozdemir","doi":"10.1159/000530712","DOIUrl":"10.1159/000530712","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Despite their critical roles in tissue repair and pathological processes such as fibrosis, tumor invasion, and metastasis, the origins of mesenchymal cells remain poorly understood. Among the likely routes, epithelial-to-mesenchymal transitions (EMTs) emerge as important source of these cells. EMTs manifest themselves as a phenotypic transition in terminally differentiated epithelial cells into mesenchymal cells which are closely related to embryogenesis and organ development as well as in chronically inflamed tissues and neoplasia. There exists a potential for successful engineering of biomimetic environments that closely reflects and reciprocates the dynamic changes in the cellular microenvironment during EMT and relies on integrating the mechanical sensing mechanisms found in the native tissues into the synthetic scaffolds to understand cellular plasticity. Extracellular matrix (ECM) has complex structures composed of a collection of extracellular molecules including fibrous proteins and glycoproteins in a hydrated mixture of glycosaminoglycans and proteoglycans. Therefore, fibrous materials have been increasingly applied in tissue engineering applications since biomaterials need to restore ECM structures to provide physical, biochemical, and biomechanical signals to define cellular behaviors and tissue functions. This review summarizes materials used for fibrous scaffolds including natural and synthetic materials, highlights recent development of fabrication techniques, characteristic architectures, and properties and different applications of fibrous scaffolds in tissue engineering. The prospects and challenges about fibrous materials in tissue engineering applications are also discussed. Finally, we summarized relevant bioengineering approaches to modulate each type of EMT as potential avenues to consider toward future biomaterials design.</p>","PeriodicalId":9717,"journal":{"name":"Cells Tissues Organs","volume":" ","pages":"416-438"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9323239","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Downregulation of Pinkbar/pAKT and MMP2/MMP9 Expression in MDA-MB-231 Breast Cancer Cells as Potential Targets in Cancer Therapy by hAMSCs Secretome.","authors":"Termeh Shakery, Fatemeh Safari","doi":"10.1159/000520370","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1159/000520370","url":null,"abstract":"Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths among women worldwide. Cancer therapy based on stem cells is considered as a novel and promising platform. In the present study, we explored the therapeutic effects of human amniotic mesenchymal stromal cells (hAMSCs) through Pinkbar (planar intestinal- and kidney-specific BAR domain protein), pAKT, and matrix metalloproteinases including MMP2 and MMP9 on MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. For this purpose, we employed a co-culture system using Transwell 6-well plates with a pore size of 0.4 μm. After 72 h, the hAMSCs-treated MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells, the expression of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), and c-Src (a key mediator in EGFR signaling pathway), Pinkbar, pAKT, MMP2, and MMP9 were analyzed using quantitative real time PCR and western blot methods. Based on 2D and 3D cell culture models, significant reduction of tumor cell growth and motility through downregulation of EGFR, c-Src, Pinkbar, pAKT, MMP2, and MMP9 were found in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. Moreover, induction of cellular apoptosis was also reported. Our finding indicates that the hAMSCS secretome has therapeutic effects on cancer cells. To identify the details of the molecular mechanisms, more experiments will be required.","PeriodicalId":9717,"journal":{"name":"Cells Tissues Organs","volume":"212 2","pages":"155-163"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9338481","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cells Tissues OrgansPub Date : 2023-01-01Epub Date: 2023-09-26DOI: 10.1159/000534280
Andrew T Thede, James D Tang, Clare E Cocker, Liza J Harold, Connor D Amelung, Anna R Kittel, Phillip A Taylor, Kyle J Lampe
{"title":"Effects of Cell-Adhesive Ligand Presentation on Pentapeptide Supramolecular Assembly and Gelation: Simulations and Experiments.","authors":"Andrew T Thede, James D Tang, Clare E Cocker, Liza J Harold, Connor D Amelung, Anna R Kittel, Phillip A Taylor, Kyle J Lampe","doi":"10.1159/000534280","DOIUrl":"10.1159/000534280","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a complex, hierarchical material containing structural and bioactive components. This complexity makes decoupling the effects of biomechanical properties and cell-matrix interactions difficult, especially when studying cellular processes in a 3D environment. Matrix mechanics and cell adhesion are both known regulators of specific cellular processes such as stem cell proliferation and differentiation. However, more information is required about how such variables impact various neural lineages that could, upon transplantation, therapeutically improve neural function after a central nervous system injury or disease. Rapidly Assembling Pentapeptides for Injectable Delivery (RAPID) hydrogels are one biomaterial approach to meet these goals, consisting of a family of peptide sequences that assemble into physical hydrogels in physiological media. In this study, we studied our previously reported supramolecularly-assembling RAPID hydrogels functionalized with the ECM-derived cell-adhesive peptide ligands RGD, IKVAV, and YIGSR. Using molecular dynamics simulations and experimental rheology, we demonstrated that these integrin-binding ligands at physiological concentrations (3-12 m<sc>m</sc>) did not impact the assembly of the KYFIL peptide system. In simulations, molecular measures of assembly such as hydrogen bonding and pi-pi interactions appeared unaffected by cell-adhesion sequence or concentration. Visualizations of clustering and analysis of solvent-accessible surface area indicated that the integrin-binding domains remained exposed. KYFIL or AYFIL hydrogels containing 3 m<sc>m</sc> of integrin-binding domains resulted in mechanical properties consistent with their non-functionalized equivalents. This strategy of doping RAPID gels with cell-adhesion sequences allows for the precise tuning of peptide ligand concentration, independent of the rheological properties. The controllability of the RAPID hydrogel system provides an opportunity to investigate the effect of integrin-binding interactions on encapsulated neural cells to discern how hydrogel microenvironment impacts growth, maturation, or differentiation.</p>","PeriodicalId":9717,"journal":{"name":"Cells Tissues Organs","volume":" ","pages":"468-483"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41106594","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kenneth M Adusei, Tran B Ngo, Andrea Lucia Alfonso, Ravi Lokwani, Sabrina DeStefano, Maria Karkanitsa, Jacquelyn Spathies, Stephen M Goldman, Christopher L Dearth, Kaitlyn Noelle Sadtler
{"title":"Development of a High-Color Flow Cytometry Panel for Immunologic Analysis of Tissue Injury and Reconstruction in a Rat Model.","authors":"Kenneth M Adusei, Tran B Ngo, Andrea Lucia Alfonso, Ravi Lokwani, Sabrina DeStefano, Maria Karkanitsa, Jacquelyn Spathies, Stephen M Goldman, Christopher L Dearth, Kaitlyn Noelle Sadtler","doi":"10.1159/000524682","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1159/000524682","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The rat model is an important resource in biomedical research due to its similarities to the human immune system and its use for functional studies. However, because of the preponderance of mouse models in foundational and mechanistic immunological studies, there is a relative lack of diverse, commercially available flow cytometry antibodies for immunological profiling in the rat model. Available antibodies are often conjugated to common fluorophores with similar peak emission wavelengths, making them hard to distinguish on conventional flow cytometers and restricting more comprehensive immune analysis. This can become a limitation when designing immunological studies in rat injury models to investigate the immune response to tissue injury. In addition, this lack of available antibodies limits the number of studies that can be done on the immune populations in lymphoid organs in other research areas. To address this critical unmet need, we designed a spectral flow cytometry panel for rat models. Spectral cytometry distinguishes between different fluorophores by capturing their full emission spectra instead of their peak emission wavelengths. This flow cytometry panel includes 24 distinct immune cell markers to analyze the innate and adaptive immune response. Importantly, this panel identifies different immune phenotypes, including tolerogenic, Type 1, and Type 2 immune responses. We show that this panel can identify unique immune populations and phenotypes in a rat muscle trauma model. We further validated that the panel can identify distinct adaptive and innate immune populations and their unique phenotypes in lymphoid organs. This panel expands the scope of previous rat panels providing a tool for scientists to examine the immune system in homeostasis and injury while pairing mechanistic immunological studies with functional studies.</p>","PeriodicalId":9717,"journal":{"name":"Cells Tissues Organs","volume":"212 1","pages":"84-95"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9139105","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Plansky Hoang, Shiyang Sun, Bearett A Tarris, Zhen Ma
{"title":"Controlling Morphology and Functions of Cardiac Organoids by Two-Dimensional Geometrical Templates.","authors":"Plansky Hoang, Shiyang Sun, Bearett A Tarris, Zhen Ma","doi":"10.1159/000521787","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1159/000521787","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Traditionally, tissue-specific organoids are generated as 3D aggregates of stem cells embedded in Matrigel or hydrogels, and the aggregates eventually end up a spherical shape and suspended in the matrix. Lack of geometrical control of organoid formation makes these spherical organoids limited for modeling the tissues with complex shapes. To address this challenge, we developed a new method to generate 3D spatial-organized cardiac organoids from 2D micropatterned human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) colonies, instead of directly from 3D stem cell aggregates. This new approach opens the possibility to create cardiac organoids that are templated by 2D non-spherical geometries, which potentially provides us a deeper understanding of biophysical controls on developmental organogenesis. Here, we designed 2D geometrical templates with quadrilateral shapes and pentagram shapes that had same total area but different geometrical shapes. Using this templated substrate, we grew cardiac organoids from hiPSCs and collected a series of parameters to characterize morphological and functional properties of the cardiac organoids. In quadrilateral templates, we found that increasing the aspect ratio impaired cardiac tissue 3D self-assembly, but the elongated geometry improved the cardiac contractile functions. However, in pentagram templates, cardiac organoid structure and function were optimized with a specific geometry of an ideal star shape. This study will shed a light on \"organogenesis-by-design\" by increasing the intricacy of starting templates from external geometrical cues to improve the organoid morphogenesis and functionality.</p>","PeriodicalId":9717,"journal":{"name":"Cells Tissues Organs","volume":"212 1","pages":"64-73"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9271134/pdf/nihms-1773156.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9232520","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mahshid Akhavan Rahnama, Mina Soufi Zomorrod, Saeid Abroun, Amir Atashi
{"title":"The Effect of Exosomes Derived from Unrestricted Somatic Stem Cells on Murine Model of Sepsis.","authors":"Mahshid Akhavan Rahnama, Mina Soufi Zomorrod, Saeid Abroun, Amir Atashi","doi":"10.1159/000520639","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1159/000520639","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Sepsis is a systemic infection mainly caused by bacterial infections. Despite all efforts and advances in the treatment of sepsis, it is still considered one of the leading causes of death in hospitalized patients. Today, we have to use novel therapies and one of the most important is cell-free therapy. Exosomes have been shown to contain the contents of their parent cells and that they do not generate an immune response between different individuals which makes them a good candidate for transplantation. Unrestricted somatic stem cells (USSC), also known as mesenchymal stem cell progenitors due to their high proliferative capacity and low immune response, may be a novel therapy for sepsis. In this study, the effect of USSC-derived exosomes on sepsis was investigated using a mouse model. USSCs were isolated from human cord blood and characterized by flow cytometry and multi-lineage differentiation. The exosomes were then harvested from USSCs and characterized by transmission electron microscopy, Western blotting, and dynamic light scattering. The harvested exosomes were injected into the mouse model of sepsis. Biochemical, histological, molecular, and survival studies were performed in different groups. Our observations showed that USSC-derived exosomes can reduce inflammation in septic mice. Histopathologic and biochemical findings in the sham group showed multiorgan involvement, but these changes disappeared after 7 days of exosome administration. Moreover, the expression of IRAK-1 and TRAF-6 (main adapter molecules in signaling pathways of inflammation) was decreased through negative regulation by miR-146a after 72 h of exosome administration. A 2-fold increase in the level of IL-10 and a 2-fold decrease in the levels of IL-6 and TNF-α was observed. In conclusion, we showed that direct injection of USSC-derived exosomes can be one of the important methods for the treatment of various aspects of sepsis due to their immunomodulatory properties.</p>","PeriodicalId":9717,"journal":{"name":"Cells Tissues Organs","volume":"212 2","pages":"164-175"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9714881","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}