Intramuscular delivery of neural crest stem cell spheroids enhances neuromuscular regeneration after denervation injury.

BACKGROUND: Muscle denervation from trauma and motor neuron disease causes disabling morbidities. A limiting step in functional recovery is the regeneration of neuromuscular junctions (NMJs) for reinnervation. Stem cells have the potential to promote these regenerative processes, but current approaches have limited success, and the optimal types of stem cells remain to be determined. Neural crest stem cells (NCSCs), as the developmental precursors of the peripheral nervous system, are uniquely advantageous, but the role of NCSCs in neuromuscular regeneration is not clear. Furthermore, a cell delivery approach that can maintain NCSC survival upon transplantation is critical. METHODS: We established a streamlined protocol to derive, isolate, and characterize functional p75+ NCSCs from human iPSCs without genome integration of reprogramming factors. To enhance survival rate upon delivery in vivo, NCSCs were centrifuged in microwell plates to form spheroids of desirable size by controlling suspension cell density. Human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) were also studied for comparison. NCSC or MSC spheroids were injected into the gastrocnemius muscle with denervation injury, and the effects on NMJ formation and functional recovery were investigated. The spheroids were also co-cultured with engineered neuromuscular tissue to assess effects on NMJ formation in vitro. RESULTS: NCSCs cultured in spheroids displayed enhanced secretion of soluble factors involved in neuromuscular regeneration. Intramuscular transplantation of spheroids enabled long-term survival and retention of NCSCs, in contrast to the transplantation of single-cell suspensions. Furthermore, NCSC spheroids significantly improved functional recovery after four weeks as shown by gait analysis, electrophysiology, and the rate of NMJ innervation. MSC spheroids, on the other hand, had insignificant effect. In vitro co-culture of NCSC or MSC spheroids with engineered myotubes and motor neurons further evidenced improved innervated NMJ formation with NCSC spheroids. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrate that stem cell type is critical for neuromuscular regeneration and that NCSCs have a distinct advantage and therapeutic potential to promote reinnervation following peripheral nerve injury. Biophysical effects of spheroidal culture, in particular, enable long-term NCSC survival following in vivo delivery. Furthermore, synthetic neuromuscular tissue, or "tissues-on-a-chip," may offer a platform to evaluate stem cells for neuromuscular regeneration.

Skeletal muscle regeneration via the chemical induction and expansion of myogenic stem cells in situ or in vitro.

Muscle loss and impairment resulting from traumatic injury can be alleviated by therapies using muscle stem cells. However, collecting sufficient numbers of autologous myogenic stem cells and expanding them efficiently has been challenging. Here we show that myogenic stem cells (predominantly Pax7+ cells)-which were selectively expanded from readily obtainable dermal fibroblasts or skeletal muscle stem cells using a specific cocktail of small molecules and transplanted into muscle injuries in adult, aged or dystrophic mice-led to functional muscle regeneration in the three animal models. We also show that sustained release of the small-molecule cocktail in situ through polymer nanoparticles led to muscle repair by inducing robust activation and expansion of resident satellite cells. Chemically induced stem cell expansion in vitro and in situ may prove to be advantageous for stem cell therapies that aim to regenerate skeletal muscle and other tissues.

High-throughput custom capture sequencing identifies novel mutations in coloboma-associated genes: Mutation in DNA-binding domain of retinoic acid receptor beta affects nuclear localization causing ocular coloboma.

Uveal coloboma is a potentially blinding congenital ocular malformation caused by the failure of optic fissure closure during the fifth week of human gestation. We performed custom capture high-throughput screening of 38 known coloboma-associated genes in 66 families. Suspected causative novel variants were identified in TFAP2A and CHD7, as well as two previously reported variants of uncertain significance in RARB and BMP7. The variant in RARB, unlike previously reported disease mutations in the ligand-binding domain, was a missense change in the highly conserved DNA-binding domain predicted to affect the protein's DNA-binding ability. In vitro studies revealed lower steady-state protein levels, reduced transcriptional activity, and incomplete nuclear localization of the mutant RARB protein compared with wild-type. Zebrafish studies showed that human RARB messenger RNA partially reduced the ocular phenotype caused by morpholino knockdown of rarga gene, a zebrafish homolog of human RARB. Our study indicates that sequence alterations in known coloboma genes account for a small percentage of coloboma cases and that mutations in the RARB DNA-binding domain could result in human disease.

Adult Stem Cells in Vascular Remodeling.

Understanding the contribution of vascular cells to blood vessel remodeling is critical for the development of new therapeutic approaches to cure cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and regenerate blood vessels. Recent findings suggest that neointimal formation and atherosclerotic lesions involve not only inflammatory cells, endothelial cells, and smooth muscle cells, but also several types of stem cells or progenitors in arterial walls and the circulation. Some of these stem cells also participate in the remodeling of vascular grafts, microvessel regeneration, and formation of fibrotic tissue around biomaterial implants. Here we review the recent findings on how adult stem cells participate in CVD development and regeneration as well as the current state of clinical trials in the field, which may lead to new approaches for cardiovascular therapies and tissue engineering.