Acquiring, archiving, analyzing and exchanging seismic data in real time at the Seismological Research Center of the OGS in Italy

The Centro di Ricerche Sismologiche (CRS, Seismological Research Center) of the Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS, Italian National Institute for Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics) in Udine (Italy) after the strong earthquake (magnitude M=6.4) occurred in 1976 in the Italian Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, started to operate the North-east Italy (NI) seismic network: it currently consists of 11 very sensitive broad band and 23 more simple short period seismic stations, all telemetered to and acquired in real time at the OGS-CRS data center in Udine. Real time data exchange agreements in place with other Italian, Slovenian, Austrian and Swiss seismological institutes lead to a total number of 89 seismic stations acquired in real time, which makes the OGS the reference institute for seismic monitoring of Northeastern Italy. Since 2002 OGS-CRS is using the Antelope software suite as the main tool for collecting, analyzing, archiving and exchanging seismic data in the framework of the EU Interreg IIIA project “Trans-national seismological networks in the South-Eastern Alps”. SeisComP is also used as a real time data exchange server tool. At OGS-CRS we then adapted existing programs and created new ones like: a customized web-accessible server to manually relocate earthquakes, a script for automatic moment tensor determination, scripts for web publishing of earthquake parametric data, waveforms, state of health parameters and shaking maps, noise characterization by means of automatic spectra analysis, plus scripts for email/SMS/fax alerting. A new OGS-CRS real time web site has also been recently designed and made operative in the framework of the DPC-INGV S3 Project

HIF-1α-stabilizing agent FG-4497 rescues human CD34+ cell mobilization in response to G-CSF in immunodeficient mice

Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) is used routinely in the clinical setting to mobilize hematopoietic stem progenitor cells (HSPCs) into the patient's blood for collection and subsequent transplantation. However, a significant proportion of patients who have previously received chemotherapy or radiotherapy and require autologous HSPC transplantation cannot mobilize the minimal threshold of mobilized HSPCs to achieve rapid and successful hematopoietic reconstitution. Although several alternatives to the G-CSF regime have been tested, few are used in the clinical setting. We have shown previously in mice that administration of prolyl 4-hydroxylase domain enzyme (PHD) inhibitors, which stabilize hypoxiainducible factor (111F)-1 alpha, synergize with G-CSF in vivo to enhance mouse HSPC mobilization into blood, leading to enhanced engraftment via an HSPC-intrinsic mechanism. To evaluate whether PHD inhibitors could be used to enhance mobilization of human HSPCs, we humanized nonobese, diabetic severe combined immune-deficient Il2rg(-/-) mice by transplanting them with human umbilical cord blood CD34(+) HSPCs and then treating them with G-CSF with and without co-administration of the PHD inhibitor FG-4497. We observed that combination treatment with G-CSF and FG-4497 resulted in significant mobilization of human lineage-negative (Lin(-)) CD34(+) HSPCs and more primitive human Lin(-) CD34(+)CD38(-) HSPCs into blood and spleen, whereas mice treated with G-CSF alone did not mobilize human HSPCs significantly. These results suggest that the PHD inhibitor FG-4497 also increases human HSPC mobilization in a xenograft mouse model, suggesting the possibility of testing PHD inhibitors to boost HSPC mobilization in response to G-CSF in humans. Copyright (C) 2017 ISEH - International Society for Experimental Hematology. Published by Elsevier Inc

Sheep as a model for evaluating mesenchymal stem/stromal cell (MSC)-based chondral defect repair

Osteoarthritis results from the degradation of articular cartilage and is one of the leading global causes of pain and immobility. Cartilage has a limited capacity for self-repair. While repair can be enhanced through surgical intervention, current methods often generate inferior fibrocartilage and repair is transient. The development of tissue engineering strategies to improve repair outcomes is an active area of research. While small animal models such as rodents and rabbits are often used in early pre-clinical work, larger animals that better recapitulate the anatomy and loading of the human joint are required for late-stage preclinical evaluation. Because of their physiological similarities to humans, and low cost relative to other large animals, sheep are routinely used in orthopedic research, including cartilage repair studies. In recent years, there has been considerable research investment into the development of cartilage repair strategies that utilize mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSC). In contrast to autologous chondrocytes derived from biopsies of articular cartilage, MSC offer some benefits including greater expansion capacity and elimination of the risk of morbidity at the cartilage biopsy site. The disadvantages of MSC are related to the challenges of inducing and maintaining a stable chondrocyte-like cell population capable of generating hyaline cartilage. Ovine MSC (oMSC) biology and their utility in sheep cartilage repair models have not been reviewed. Herein, we review the biological properties of MSC derived from sheep tissues, and the use of these cells to study articular cartilage repair in this large animal model

Spheroid coculture of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells and monolayer expanded mesenchymal stem/stromal cells in polydimethylsiloxane microwells modestly improves in vitro hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell expansion

While two-dimensional (2D) monolayers of mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) have been shown to enhance hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell (HSPC) expansion in vitro, expanded cells do not engraft long term in human recipients. This outcome is attributed to the failure of 2D culture to recapitulate the bone marrow (BM) niche signal milieu. Herein, we evaluated the capacity of a novel three-dimensional (3D) coculture system to support HSPC expansion in vitro. A high-throughput polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microwell platform was used to manufacture thousands of uniform 3D multicellular coculture spheroids. Relative gene expression in 3D spheroid versus 2D adherent BM-derived MSC cultures was characterized and compared with literature reports. We evaluated coculture spheroids, each containing 25-400 MSCs and 10 umbilical cord blood (CB)-derived CD34 progenitor cells. At low exogenous cytokine concentrations, 2D and 3D MSC coculture modestly improved overall hematopoietic cell and CD34 cell expansion outcomes. By contrast, a substantial increase in CD34CD38 cell yield was observed in PDMS microwell cultures, regardless of the presence or absence of MSCs. This outcome indicated that CD34CD38 cell culture yield could be increased using the microwell platform alone, even without MSC coculture support. We found that the increase in CD34CD38 cell yield observed in PDMS microwell cultures did not translate to enhanced engraftment in NOD/SCID gamma (NSG) mice or a modification in the relative human hematopoietic lineages established in engrafted mice. In summary, there was no statistical difference in CD34 cell yield from 2D or 3D cocultures, and MSC coculture support provided only modest benefit in either geometry. While the high-throughput 3D microwell platform may provide a useful model system for studying cells in coculture, further optimization will be required to generate HSPC yields suitable for use in clinical applications

Direct bone marrow HSC transplantation enhances local engraftment at the expense of systemic engraftment in NSG mice

Direct bone marrow (BM) injection has been proposed as a strategy to bypass homing inefficiencies associated with intravenous (IV) hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplantation. Despite physical delivery into the BM cavity, many donor cells are rapidly redistributed by vascular perfusion, perhaps compromising efficacy. Anchoring donor cells to 3-dimensional (3D) multicellular spheroids, formed from mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSC) might improve direct BM transplantation. To test this hypothesis, relevant combinations of human umbilical cord blood-derived CD34 cells and BM-derived MSC were transplanted into NOD/SCID gamma (NSG) mice using either IV or intrafemoral (IF) routes. IF transplantation resulted in higher human CD45 and CD34 cell engraftment within injected femurs relative to distal femurs regardless of cell combination, but did not improve overall CD45 engraftment at 8 weeks. Analysis within individual mice revealed that despite engraftment reaching near saturation within the injected femur, engraftment at distal hematopoietic sites including peripheral blood, spleen and non-injected femur, could be poor. Our data suggest that the retention of human HSC within the BM following direct BM injection enhances local chimerism at the expense of systemic chimerism in this xenogeneic model

Integration of an ultra-strong poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) knitted mesh into a thermally induced phase separation (TIPS) PLGA porous structure to yield a thin biphasic scaffold suitable for dermal tissue engineering

Weaimed to capture the outstanding mechanical properties of meshes, manufactured using textile technologies, in thin biodegradable biphasic tissue-engineered scaffolds through encapsulation of meshes into porous structures formed from the same polymer. Our novel manufacturing process used thermally induced phase separation (TIPS), with ethylene carbonate (EC) as the solvent, to encapsulate a poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) mesh into a porous PLGA network. Biphasic scaffolds (1 cm x 4 cm x 300 mu m) were manufactured by immersing strips of PLGA mesh in 40 degrees C solutions containing 5% PLGA in EC, supercooling at 4 degrees C for 4 min, triggering TIPS by manually agitating the supercooled solution, and lastly eluting EC into 4 degrees C Milli-Q water. EC processing was rapid and did not compromise mesh tensile properties. Biphasic scaffolds exhibited a tensile strength of 40.7 +/- 2.2 MPa, porosity of 94%, pore size of 16.85 +/- 3.78 mu m, supported HaCaT cell proliferation, and degraded in vitro linearly over the first similar to 3 weeks followed by rapid degradation over the following three weeks. The successful integration of textile-type meshes yielded scaffolds with exceptional mechanical properties. This thin, porous, high-strength scaffold is potentially suitable for use in dermal wound repair or repair of tubular organs

Human bone marrow-derived stromal cell behavior when injected directly into the bone marrow of NOD-scid-gamma mice pre-conditioned with sub-lethal irradiation

BackgroundDirect bone marrow injection of cells into murine marrow cavities is used in a range of cell characterization assays and to develop disease models. While human bone marrow-derived stromal cells (hBMSC, also known as mesenchymal stem cells (MSC)) are frequently described in therapeutic applications, or disease modeling, their behavior following direct injection into murine bone marrow is poorly characterized. Herein, we characterized hBMSC engraftment and persistence within the bone marrow of NOD-scid interleukin (IL)-2γ−/− (NSG) mice with or without prior 2 Gy total-body γ-irradiation of recipient mice.MethodsOne day after conditioning NSG mice with sublethal irradiation, 5 × 105 luciferase (Luc) and green fluorescent protein (GFP)-expressing hBMSC (hBMSC-Luc/GFP) were injected into the right femurs of animals. hBMSC-Luc/GFP were tracked in live animals using IVIS imaging, and histology was used to further characterize hBMSC location and behavior in tissues.ResultshBMSC-Luc/GFP number within injected marrow cavities declined rapidly over 4 weeks, but prior irradiation of animals delayed this decline. At 4 weeks, hBMSC-Luc/GFP colonized injected marrow cavities and distal marrow cavities at rates of 2.5 ± 2.2% and 1.7 ± 1.9% of total marrow nucleated cells, respectively in both irradiated and non-irradiated mice. In distal marrow cavities, hBMSC were not uniformly distributed and appeared to be co-localized in clusters, with the majority found in the endosteal region.ConclusionsWhile significant numbers of hBMSC-Luc/GFP could be deposited into the mouse bone marrow via direct bone marrow injection, IVIS imaging indicated that the number of hBMSC-Luc/GFP in that bone marrow cavity declined with time. Irradiation of mice prior to transplant only delayed the rate of hBMSC-Luc/GFP population decline in injected femurs. Clusters of hBMSC-Luc/GFP were observed in the histology of distal marrow cavities, suggesting that some transplanted cells actively homed to distal marrow cavities. Individual cell clusters may have arisen from discrete clones that homed to the marrow, and then underwent modest proliferation. The transient high-density population of hBMSC within the injected femur, or the longer-term low-density population of hBMSC in distal marrow cavities, offers useful models for studying disease or regenerative processes. Experimental designs should consider how relative hBMSC distribution and local hBMSC densities evolve over time

Using high throughput microtissue culture to study the difference in prostate cancer cell behavior and drug response in 2D and 3D co-cultures

Background: There is increasing appreciation that non-cancer cells within the tumour microenvironment influence cancer progression and anti-cancer drug efficacy. For metastatic prostate cancer (PCa), the bone marrow microenvironment influences metastasis, drug response, and possibly drug resistance. Methods: Using a novel microwell platform, the Microwell-mesh, we manufactured hundreds of 3D co-culture microtissues formed from PCa cells and bone marrow stromal cells. We used luciferase-expressing C42B PCa cells to enable quantification of the number of PCa cells in complex microtissue co-cultures. This strategy enabled us to quantify specific PCa cell growth and death in response to drug treatment, in different co-culture conditions. In parallel, we used Transwell migration assays to characterize PCa cell migration towards different 2D and 3D stromal cell populations. Results: Our results reveal that PCa cell migration varied depending on the relative aggressiveness of the PCa cell lines, the stromal cell composition, and stromal cell 2D or 3D geometry. We found that C42B cell sensitivity to Docetaxel varied depending on culture geometry, and the presence or absence of different stromal cell populations. By contrast, the C42B cell response to Abiraterone Acetate was dependent on geometry, but not on the presence or absence of stromal cells. Conclusion: In summary, stromal cell composition and geometry influences PCa cell migration, growth and drug response. The Microwell-mesh and microtissues are powerful tools to study these complex 3D interactions