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  • Ivey Aaen posted an update 1 year, 3 months ago

    In conclusion, the green Res-Quer Lf-ChS NPs possess antibacterial and antitumor attributes for potential lung infection and tumor therapy.Irregular hepatectomy plays a prominent role in the treatment of small hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with severe cirrhosis and localized liver metastasis. In clinical practices, intraoperative tumor boundaries delineation facilitates to accomplish tumor resection with negative margin, remarkably decreasing the recurrence rates. Currently, ultrasound (US) and ICG fluorescence-guided surgery has been used for intraoperative navigation in irregular hepatectomy, but insufficient specificity results in a limited prevalence. Inspired by the high resolution of photoacoustic (PA) imaging and established clinical efficacy of 18F-Alfatide that is specific for integrin αvβ3-overexpressed tumors, we herein developed a fluorescent analogue IR820-E[c(RGDfK)]2, and a proof-of-concept intraoperative multispectral PA imaging navigation for precise irregular hepatectomy using hand-held PA/US imaging system. MER-29 clinical trial An integrin αvβ3-targeted fluorescent contrast agent IR820-E[c(RGDfK)]2 was designed, synthesized, and characte preoperatively detect tumor lesions, intraoperatively delineate tumor boundaries and guide tumor resection, and postoperatively evaluate tumor margin status during irregular hepatectomy. IR820-E[c(RGDfK)]2 has the potential to be an investigational new drug for clinical use in multispectral photoacoustic imaging-guided irregular hepatectomy.An important role of neural stem cell transplantation is repopulating neural and glial cells that actively promote repair following spinal cord injury (SCI). However, stem cell survival after transplantation is severely hampered by the inflammatory environment that arises after SCI. Biomaterials have a demonstrated history of managing post-SCI inflammation and can serve as a vehicle for stem cell delivery. In this study, we utilize macroporous polyethylene glycol (PEG) tubes, which were previously found to modulate the post-SCI microenvironment, to serve as a viable, soft substrate for injecting mouse embryonic day 14 (E14) spinal progenitors 2 weeks after tube implantation into a mouse SCI model. At 2 weeks after transplantation (4 weeks after injury), 4.3% of transplanted E14 spinal progenitors survived when transplanted directly into tubes compared to 0.7% when transplanted into the injury alone. Surviving E14 spinal progenitors exhibited a commitment to the neuronal lineage at 4 weeks post-injury, as assessed by both early and late phenotypic markers. Mice receiving tubes with E14 spinal progenitor transplantations had on average 21 ± 4 axons/mm2 regenerated compared to 8 ± 1 axons/mm2 for the injury only control, which corresponded with a significant increase in remyelination compared to the injury only control, while all conditions exhibited improved forelimb control 4 weeks after injury compared to the injury only. Collectively, we have demonstrated the feasibility of using PEG tubes to modify the implantation site and improve survival of transplanted E14 spinal progenitors.In vitro models of the human central nervous system (CNS), particularly those derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), are becoming increasingly recognized as useful complements to animal models for studying neurological diseases and developing therapeutic strategies. However, many current three-dimensional (3D) CNS models suffer from deficits that limit their research utility. In this work, we focused on improving the interactions between the extracellular matrix (ECM) and iPSC-derived neurons to support model development. The most common ECMs used to fabricate 3D CNS models often lack the necessary bioinstructive cues to drive iPSC-derived neurons to a mature and synaptically connected state. These ECMs are also typically difficult to pattern into complex structures due to their mechanical properties. To address these issues, we functionalized gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) with an N-cadherin (Cad) extracellular peptide epitope to create a biomaterial termed GelMA-Cad. After photopolymerization, GelMA-Cad forms soft hydrogels (on the order of 2 kPa) that can maintain patterned architectures. The N-cadherin functionality promotes survival and maturation of single-cell suspensions of iPSC-derived glutamatergic neurons into synaptically connected networks as determined by viral tracing and electrophysiology. Immunostaining reveals a pronounced increase in presynaptic and postsynaptic marker expression in GelMA-Cad relative to Matrigel, as well as extensive colocalization of these markers, thus highlighting the biological activity of the N-cadherin peptide. Overall, given its ability to enhance iPSC-derived neuron maturity and connectivity, GelMA-Cad should be broadly useful for in vitro studies of neural circuitry in health and disease.Although metallic alloys commonly used as prosthetics are durable and mechanically strong, they are often bioinert and lack antibacterial properties. Implementing a bioactive glass material with antibacterial properties as a coating on a metallic substrate provides mechanical strength and bioactivity, as well as antibacterial properties. Many coating methods have been extensively investigated; however, most of them can be expensive, are difficult to scale up, or do not form thin films, which could prevent their translation to clinical practice. The formation of thin films by spin-coating multi-component solution-gelation (sol-gel)-derived glass with antibacterial and bioactive properties has not been achieved previously. For this study, stainless steel 316L substrates were spin-coated with a sol-gel-derived bioactive and antibacterial glass coating in SiO2 58.3-P2O5 7.1-CaO 25.6-Al2O5 5.4-Ag2O 2.1-Na2O 1.5 wt% system (Ag-BG). A sol-gel processing condition that avoids elemental separation upon spin-coating wh and morphological properties of the formed films.Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammatory microenvironment can enhance the dental follicle cells (DFCs) proliferation, differentiation, and adhesion abilities beneficial to periodontal regeneration, which possibly attributes the success to exosomes according to recent studies. This study aimed to investigate the therapeutic efficacy and underlying mechanisms of LPS-preconditioned DFC-derived small extracellular vesicles (sEVs), which enriched exosomes for periodontal regeneration in an inflammatory microenvironment. LPS preconditioning could significantly increase the secretion of sEVs derived from DFCs. Both LPS-preconditioned dental follicle cell-derived sEV (L-D-sEV) and DFC-derived sEV (D-sEV) promoted the proliferation of periodontal ligament cells from periodontitis (p-PDLCs) with a dose-dependent and saturable manner and also enhanced the migration and differentiation of p-PDLCs. Furthermore, L-D-sEV showed a modest benefit than D-sEV to promote p-PDLCs differentiation. In vivo, an L-D-sEV-loaded hydrogel applied in the treatment of periodontitis was beneficial to repair lost alveolar bone in the early stage of treatment and to maintain the level of alveolar bone in the late stage of treatment in experimental periodontitis rats, which could partly decrease the expression of the RANKL/OPG ratio.