Coupling of gelatin to inner surfaces of pore walls in spongy alginate-based scaffolds facilitates the adhesion, growth and differentiation of human bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells.

We have developed a novel wide-pore scaffold for cell 3D culturing, based on the technology of freeze-drying of Ca-alginate and gelatin. Two different preparation methodologies were compared: (i) freeze-drying of Na-alginate + gelatin mixed solution followed by the incubation of dried polymer in saturated ethanolic solution of CaCl2; (ii) freeze-drying of the Na-alginate solution followed by the chemical "activation" of polysaccharide core with divinylsulfone with subsequent gelatin covalent attachment to the inner surfaces of pore walls. The scaffolds produced using the first approach did not provide adhesion and proliferation of human bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs). Conversely, the second approach allowed to obtain scaffolds with a high adherence ability for the cells. When cultured within the latter type of scaffold, MSCs proliferated and were able to differentiate into adipogenic, osteogenic and chondrogenic cell lineages, in response to specific induction stimuli. The results indicate that Ca-alginate wide-pore scaffolds with covalently attached gelatin could be useful for stem cell-based bone, cartilage and adipose tissue engineering.

The use of catalytic carbon deposits as 3D carriers for human bone marrow stromal cells.

We studied the possibility of using 3D structures based on carbon catalytic deposits as carriers for human bone marrow stromal cells. It was found that carbon catalytic deposits obtained by gas deposition method using FeCl(3) × 6H(2)O as the catalyst are a biocompatible material for human bone marrow stromal cells promoting adhesion, proliferation, and distribution of cells within the 3D carrier, and therefore can be used for tissue engineering.

Comparison of the methods for seeding human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells to macroporous alginate cryogel carriers.

We performed a comparative study of the localization, distribution, metabolic activity, and surface properties of human bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells after static and perfusion seeding to macroporous alginate cryogels. A simple perfusion system for mesenchymal stromal cell seeding to macroporous alginate cryogel sponges proposed in this study resulted in rapid and uniform distribution of cells within the whole volume of the scaffold preserving functional and morphological properties of the cells.

Cryopreservation of human fetal liver hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells using sucrose as an additive to the cryoprotective medium.

INTRODUCTION: Human fetal liver (HFL) is a valuable source of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSCs) for the treatment of various hematological disorders. This study describes the effect of sucrose addition to a cryoprotective medium in order to reduce the Me(2)SO concentration during cryopreservation of HFL hematopoietic cell preparations. METHODS: Human fetal liver (HFL) cells of 8-12 weeks of gestation were cryopreserved with a cooling rate of 1 degrees C/min down to -80 degrees C and stored in liquid nitrogen. The cryoprotectant solutions contained 2% or 5% Me(2)SO (v/v) with or without sucrose at a final concentration of 0.05, 0.1, 0.2 or 0.3M. The metabolic activity of HFL cells was determined using the alamar blue assay. For the determination of the number and survival of hematopoietic progenitors present, cells were stained with CD34 (FITC) and 7-AAD, and analyzed by flow cytometry. The colony-forming activity of HFL hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells after cryopreservation was assessed in semisolid methylcellulose. RESULTS: The addition of sucrose to the cryoprotective medium produced a significant reduction in HFL cell loss during cryopreservation. The metabolic activity of HFL cells, cryopreserved with 5% Me(2)SO/0.3M sucrose mixture was comparable to cryopreservation in 5% Me(2)SO/10% FCS. Although the inclusion of sucrose did not affect the survival of CD34(+) cells in HFL after cryopreservation it did improve the functional capacity of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells. CONCLUSION: The inclusion of sucrose as an additive to cryoprotective media for HFL cells enables a reduction in the concentration of Me(2)SO, replacing serum and increasing the efficiency of cryopreservation.

Growth and adipogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stromal bone marrow cells during culturing in 3D macroporous agarose cryogel sponges.

We studied the possibility of population of macroporous agarose cryogel sponges by mesenchymal stromal bone marrow cells with their subsequent adipogenic differentiation. After 7-day culturing of mesenchymal stromal cells in agarose cryogel, the level of cell proliferation was 35%. After 3-week culturing in a medium inducing adipogenesis we observed accumulation of intracellular neutral lipids positively stained with Oil Red O. These findings can be used for the development of bioengineering constructions of the adipose tissue on the basis of spongy carriers.

The reduction of Alamar Blue by peripheral blood lymphocytes and isolated mitochondria.

Alamar Blue is a widely used nontoxic indicator of cell proliferative activity, which penetrates quickly through the biological membranes and can be easily reduced by intracellular enzymes. Accumulation of reduced fluorescent form of Alamar Blue during short-term culture of human peripheral blood lymphocytes may be used as a cell viability test since it was prevented by disruption of plasma membrane by digitonin. The inhibition of Alamar Blue reduction by NaN3 indicates that its metabolism is associated with mitochondrial activity. A compaative study of Alamar Blue reduction and oxygen consumption on isolated rat liver mitochondria shows, that the Alamar Blue reduction is not associated with the activity of specific complex of respiratory chain and it seems to be an integral indicator of oxidation-reduction activity of respiratory chain components.