Biophysical and Biochemical Cues of Biomaterials Guide Mesenchymal Stem Cell Behaviors

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been widely used in the fields of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine due to their self-renewal capabilities and multipotential differentiation assurance. However, capitalizing on specific factors to precisely guide MSC behaviors is the cornerstone of biomedical applications. Fortunately, several key biophysical and biochemical cues of biomaterials that can synergistically regulate cell behavior have paved the way for the development of cell-instructive biomaterials that serve as delivery vehicles for promoting MSC application prospects. Therefore, the identification of these cues in guiding MSC behavior, including cell migration, proliferation, and differentiation, may be of particular importance for better clinical performance. This review focuses on providing a comprehensive and systematic understanding of biophysical and biochemical cues, as well as the strategic engineering of these signals in current scaffold designs, and we believe that integrating biophysical and biochemical cues in next-generation biomaterials would potentially help functionally regulate MSCs for diverse applications in regenerative medicine and cell therapy in the future.

ADIPOSE DERIVED STEM CELLS- A REVIEW OF THEIR CURRENT ROLE IN RECONSTRUCTIVE SURGERY AND REGENERATIVE MEDICINE

Adipocytes are now known to have immense capacity for self-renewal and as well as multipotential differentiation. Adipose derived stem cells (ADSC) are multipotent stem cells of mesenchymal origin, located ubiquitously in human body. Unlike the bone marrow stem cells, they are easy to harvest from subcutaneous tissues by minimally invasive procedures. Several advances in isolation, invitro culture and replication of adipose derived stem cells have occurred in last decade. Cell assisted lipo-transfers for enhancing the survival of autologous fat grafts (AFG) by enriching them with ADSC is being practiced in Plastic surgery. Because of their potential for angiogenesis, tissue regeneration, immunomodulatory and paracrine effects, fat grafts nd considerable applications in Plastic surgery and Regenerative medicine. This paper explores the current research into applications, techniques of harvest, culture and tissue engineering of ADSC and the concerns about the oncogenic potentiation and genetic stability of the cultured cell lines.

The role of adipose derived stem cells in the treatment of rotator cuff tears: from basic science to clinical application

Over the last decade, regenerative medicine has become increasingly popular throughout the scientific community. The poor healing capacity at the tendon-bone interface makes the rotator cuff an appealing target for biologic agents. Adipose derived stem cells are mesenchymal cells with the capacity for self-renewal and multipotential differentiation. They have been recently proposed, both in isolation and as adjuvants to existing surgical therapies, for the treatment of rotator cuff tears. Several studies have been carried out in this research field, starting from the biological characteristics of adipose derived stem cells, their preparation and culture, up to the application in the experimental field on animal models and on humans. The purpose of this study was to provide a state of the art about the current basic science and clinical literature for the effectiveness of adipose derived stem cells in the treatment of rotator cuff tears.

Cancer Stem Cells and Combination Therapies to Eradicate Them

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) show self-renewal ability and multipotential differentiation, like normal stem or progenitor cells, and which proliferate uncontrollably and can escape the effects of drugs and phagocytosis by immune cells. Traditional monotherapies, such as surgical resection, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, cannot eradicate CSCs, however, combination therapy may be more effective at eliminating CSCs. The present review summarizes the characteristics of CSCs and several promising combination therapies to eradicate them.

Cascade Diversification Directs the Generation of Neuronal Diversity in Hypothalamus

The hypothalamus contains an astounding heterogeneity of neurons to achieve its role in regulating endocrine, autonomic and behavioral functions. Despite previous progress in deciphering the gene regulatory programs linked to hypothalamus development, its molecular developmental trajectory and origin of neuronal diversity remain largely unknown. Here we combine transcriptomic profiling of 43,261 cells derived from Rax+ hypothalamic neuroepithelium with lineage tracing to map a developmental landscape of mouse hypothalamus and delineate the developmental trajectory of radial glial cells (RGCs), intermediate progenitor cells (IPCs), nascent neurons and peptidergic neurons in the lineage hierarchy. We show that RGCs adopt a conserved strategy for multipotential differentiation but generate both Ascl1+ and Neurog2+ IPCs, which display regionally differential origins in telencephalon. As transit-amplifying cells, Ascl1+ IPCs differ from their telencephalic counterpart by displaying fate bifurcation to produce both glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons. After classifying the developing neurons into 29 subtypes coded by diverse transcription factors, neurotransmitters and neuropeptides, we identified their molecular determinants via regulon analysis and further found that postmitotic neurons at nascent state possess the potential to resolve into more diverse subtypes of peptidergic neurons. Together, our study offers a single-cell framework for hypothalamus development and reveals that multiple cell types along the order of lineage hierarchy contribute to the fate diversification of hypothalamic neurons in a stepwise fashion, suggesting that a cascade diversifying model can deconstruct the origin of neuronal diversity.

The Role of lncRNAs in Osteogenic Differentiation of Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells (BMSCs) are one of the primary cells found in the bone marrow, and they can differentiate into osteoblasts, chondrocytes, adipocytes and even myoblasts, and are, therefore, considered pluripotent cells. Because of their multipotential differentiation, selfrenewal capability, immunomodulation and other potential activities, BMSCs have become an important source of seed cells for gene therapy, tissue engineering, cell replacement therapy and regenerative medicine. Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) is an RNA molecule greater than 200 nucleotides in length that is expressed in a variety of species, including animals, plants, yeast, prokaryotes, and viruses, but lacks an apparent open reading frame, and does not have the function of translation into proteins. Many studies have shown that lncRNAs play an important role in the osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs. Here, we describe the role of lncRNAs in the osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs, in order to provide a new theoretical and experimental basis for bone tissue engineering and clinical treatment.