Functional Stroke Recovery through Tissue Engineered Niche Neural Constructs

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, stroke is statistically responsible for 1 in every 19 deaths of American citizens.5 Stroke is the leading cause of permanent disability due to the fact that it compromises both cellular and tissue components of the brain, leading to the formation of a physical void within the tissue. Current research approaches address the cellular component by injecting stem cells into this void; however, extremely low cell engraftment, high injected cell death, and overall no matrix regeneration are observed. Additionally, these stem cells do not remain committed to a neural lineage. We propose to overcome these obstacles by incorporating a tissue engineered niche matrix component to the delivery of such stem cells. We hypothesize the implantation of this construct will lead to brain regeneration with complete sensory and motor functional recovery. Niche neural constructs were successfully created and characterized in vitro. In addition to maintaining and supporting the life of induced neural-like cells, seeding HADSCs onto these scaffolds yielded spontaneous differentiation and overall extended cell viability. After implantation into MCAO stroke-afflicted rats for 4 weeks, rats treated with niche neural constructs showed significant recovery when compared to stroked controls (

Comprehensive Investigation into the Utility of Amnion Membrane Derived Stem Cells for Orthopedic Regenerative Medicine Applications

Diseases affecting the cartilage and/or bone, including osteoarthritis (OA), are the most prevalent musculoskeletal tissue pathologies. OA is the result of cartilage degradation, altered sub-chondral bone, impaired joint mobility and severe pain - making it one of the leading causes of disability worldwide. While OA is stereotypically described as a physical wear and tear disease, mounting evidence suggests that synovial inflammation significantly contributes to its pathogenesis. In OA, macrophages infiltrate the synovium and secrete supra-physiological levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, which create a caustic joint environment promoting articular cartilage degradation. Due to the pro-inflammatory characteristics of OA, the immunomodulatory potential of stem cells likely represents an under investigated therapeutic alternative. The purpose of this research was to investigate if stem cells from the amniotic membrane (a tissue routinely discarded after the birth of term pregnancies) represent an efficacious alternative cell source for future OA therapies. This was achieved by directly comparing the abilities of human amniotic membrane derived stem cells and a commonly employed stem cell, human adipose derived stem cells, with regards to osteogenic and chondrogenic differentiation potential as well as the ability to mitigate OA disease progression both ex vivo and in vivo. Our results demonstrate stem cells from the amniotic membrane exhibit heightened differentiation potential, higher yields, enhanced immunomodulatory properties, and the ability to induce pro-regenerative (M2) phenotypes within macrophages, in OA experimental models. Additionally, amnion stem cells appeared to offer accelerated treatment time lines compared to adipose derived stem cells. For these reasons, we believe amnion membrane derived stem cells are an efficacious stem cell source for OA therapeutic approaches