The effect of galectin 1 on 3T3 cell proliferation on chitosan membranes.

Galectin-1 (GAL1), a beta-galactoside-binding protein, functions in cell adhesion, development, and growth regulation. A number of studies suggest that GAL1 play an important role in enhancing cell adhesion to extracellular matrix and inducing cell proliferation. Chitosan is a derivative of chitin extracted from lobsters, crabs and shrimps' exoskeletons. In clinical medicine, chitosan membrane had been used as a semi-permeable biological dressing. Although chitosan membranes show no cytotoxicity, some cell types (e.g. 3T3 cells) fail to attach and proliferate on their surface. In these studies, we show that over-expression of GAL1 does not enhance 3T3 cell proliferation on chitosan membranes. However, coating the chitosan membrane with recombinant GAL1 proteins significantly expedites 3T3 cells proliferation. The enhanced cell growth was inhibited by thiodigalactoside (TDG, a potent inhibitor of beta-galactoside binding) and GAL1 monoclonal antibodies, suggesting GAL1's specific effect on the proliferation of 3T3 cells upon chitosan membranes. Moreover, immunoblotting detected a markedly suppressed tyrosine phosphorylation in several proteins on 3T3 cell growths upon GAL1-coated chitosan membrane. Pretreating the cells with sodium fluoride (NaF, a phosphatase inhibitor) inhibits the attachment and proliferation of 3T3 cells. These findings support a proposed role for altered levels of protein phosphorylation in GAL1-mediated cell attachment and proliferation on chitosan membranes.

Effect of recombinant galectin-1 on the growth of immortal rat chondrocyte on chitosan-coated PLGA scaffold.

The effect of galectin-1 (GAL1) on the growth of immortal rat chondrocyte (IRC) on chitosan-modified PLGA scaffold is investigated. The experimental results showed that water absorption ratio of chitosan-modified PLGA scaffold was 70% higher than that of PLGA alone after immersion in ddH(2)O for 2 weeks, indicating that chitosan-modification significantly enhances the hydrophilicity of PLGA. The experimental results also showed that GALl efficiently and spontaneously coats the chitosan-PLGA scaffold surface to promote adhesion and growth of immortal rat chondrocyte (IRC). To investigate the effect of endogenous GAL1, the full-length GAL1 cDNAs were cloned and constructed into pcDNA3.1 vectors to generate a plasmid expressed in IRC (IRC-GAL1). The results showed that IRC-GAL1 growth was significantly higher than that of IRC on chitosan-PLGA scaffold. The GAL1-potentiated IRC growth on chitosan-PLGA scaffold was dose-dependently inhibited by TDG (specific inhibitor of GAL1 binding). These results strongly suggest that GAL1 is critical for enhancing IRC cell adhesion and growth on chitosan-PLGA scaffold. Moreover, GAL1-coating or expression tends to promote IRC cell-cell aggregation on chitosan-PLGA scaffold and significantly enhances IRC migration. These results suggest that GAL1 probably could induce tissue differentiation and facilitates cartilage reconstruction. In conclusion, the experimental results suggest that both GAL1 and chitosan are important for enhancing IRC cell adhesion and growth on PLGA scaffold, and GAL1 is a potential biomaterial for tissue engineering.

A nanoscale drug-entrapment strategy for hydrogel-based systems for the delivery of poorly soluble drugs.

The hydrophilic nature of hydrogel matrices makes them disadvantageous to entrap poorly soluble therapeutic agents and greatly restricts their applications as drug-delivery systems. In this study, we demonstrated that sustained delivery of lipophilic drugs in hydrogel-based devices can be readily achieved by enhancing retention of drugs within micelles. This nanoscale drug-entrapment strategy was applied to develop a polymeric drug-eluting stent. Sirolimus, a lipophilic anti-proliferative/immunosuppressive drug, was entrapped into the hydrophobic core of Pluronic L121 micelles and then blended in a chitosan-based strip and crosslinked by an epoxy compound to fabricate test stents. It was found that the use of such a nanoscale drug-entrapment strategy was able to significantly increase the loading efficiency of lipophilic drugs, prevent the drug from aggregation and beneficially reduce its initial burst release; thus, the duration of drug release was extended considerably. When implanting the stent in rabbit infrarenal abdominal aortas, in-stent restenosis was markedly reduced and less inflammatory reaction was observed, while unfavorable effects such as delayed endothelial healing caused by the overdose of sirolimus could be significantly evaded.