Seaweed polysaccharide-based hydrogels used for the regeneration of articular cartilage

This manuscript provides an overview of the in vitro and in vivo studies reported in the literature focusing on seaweed polysaccharides based hydrogels that have been proposed for applications in regenerative medicine, particularly, in the field of cartilage tissue engineering. For a better understanding of the main requisites for these specific applications, the main aspects of the native cartilage structure, as well as recognized diseases that affect this tissue are briefly described. Current available treatments are also presented to emphasize the need for alternative techniques. The following part of this review is centered on the description of the general characteristics of algae polysaccharides, as well as relevant properties required for designing hydrogels for cartilage tissue engineering purposes. An in-depth overview of the most well known seaweed polysaccharide, namely agarose, alginate, carrageenan and ulvan biopolymeric gels, that have been proposed for engineering cartilage is also provided. Finally, this review describes and summarizes the translational aspect for the clinical application of alternative systems emphasizing the importance of cryopreservation and the commercial products currently available for cartilage treatment.Authors report no declarations of interest. Authors thank the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) for the PhD fellowship of Elena G. Popa (SFRH/BD/64070/2009) and research project (MIT/ECE/0047/2009). The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no REGPOT-CT2012-316331-POLARIS

Effect of collagen substrates on proteomic modulation of breast cancer cells.

We have previously described the occurrence, in breast and colon cancer extra-cellular matrix, of an oncofoetal form of collagen, OF/LB, able to induce an increase in cell proliferation and motility in the breast cancer cell line 8701-BC. It also caused an increased amount of type V collagen which appears to exert an anti-proliferative effect on the same cells. The aim of the present study was to investigate, at the proteomic level, the effect of OF/LB and type V collagens used as substrates for neoplastic cell growth. Due to the complexity of a whole proteomic profile, a subset of significant protein classes was used to assess variations in protein expression levels. For this study we adopted a multivariate statistical procedure that allows a global view of the variations induced by different growth conditions, when several variables have to be analyzed simultaneously. The results of this research indicate that in response to different growth substrates, chaperons and heat shock proteins contributed most to the dissimilarity in levels of expression of the selected protein spots. Moreover, we observed that different isoforms of the same protein showed independent levels of expression from one another in relation to the different collagen treatments

Bioreactors for Tissue Engineering of Cartilage

The cartilage regenerative medicine field has evolved during the last decades. The first-generation technology, autologous chondrocyte transplantation (ACT) involved the transplantation of in vitro expanded chondrocytes to cartilage defects. The second generation involves the seeding of chondrocytes in a three-dimensional scaffold. The technique has several potential advantages such as the ability of arthroscopic implantation, in vitro pre-differentiation of cells and implant stability among others (Brittberg M, Lindahl A, Nilsson A, Ohlsson C, Isaksson O, Peterson L, N Engl J Med 331(14):889-895, 1994; Henderson I, Francisco R, Oakes B, Cameron J, Knee 12(3):209-216, 2005; Peterson L, Minas T, Brittberg M, Nilsson A, Sjogren-Jansson E, Lindahl A, Clin Orthop (374):212-234, 2000; Nagel-Heyer S, Goepfert C, Feyerabend F, Petersen JP, Adamietz P, Meenen NM, et al. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 27(4):273-280, 2005; Portner R, Nagel-Heyer S, Goepfert C, Adamietz P, Meenen NM, J Biosci Bioeng 100(3):235-245, 2005; Nagel-Heyer S, Goepfert C, Adamietz P, Meenen NM, Portner R, J Biotechnol 121(4):486-497, 2006; Heyland J, Wiegandt K, Goepfert C, Nagel-Heyer S, Ilinich E, Schumacher U, et al. Biotechnol Lett 28(20):1641-1648, 2006). The nutritional requirements of cells that are synthesizing extra-cellular matrix increase along the differentiation process. The mass transfer must be increased according to the tissue properties. Bioreactors represent an attractive tool to accelerate the biochemical and mechanical properties of the engineered tissues providing adequate mass transfer and physical stimuli. Different reactor systems have been [5] developed during the last decades based on different physical stimulation concepts. Static and dynamic compression, confined and nonconfined compression-based reactors have been described in this review. Perfusion systems represent an attractive way of culturing constructs under dynamic conditions. Several groups showed increased matrix production using confined and unconfined systems. Development of automatic culture systems and noninvasive monitoring of matrix production will take place during the next few years in order to improve the cost affectivity of tissue-engineered products. \ua9 2009 Springer