Polyethylenimine: A new differentiation factor to endothelial/cardiac tissue.

Among different tissues, endothelial/cardiac types require specific factors to promote myocardial regeneration after occurred injuries. Herein, cardiac stem cells (CSCs) as the major cell population that involved in cardiovascular repair were selected to study the role of polyethyleneimine (PEI) agent on endothelial differentiation. After preparation of electrospun network of PEI with polyacrylonitrile, the related characterizations were carried out including scanning electron microscope (SEM), field-emission SEM, water contact angle, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and mechanical properties. Also, the release kinetic of the corresponding agent was studied up to 7 days. The cell differentiation studies were done in the following with 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide assay, Real-time polymerase chain reaction and immunostaining method. The whole obtained results approved the higher differentiation of CSCs into endothelial/cardiac cells. Finally, it is recommended that the PEI delivering increases the healing potency of CSCs and accordingly the regeneration speed of damaged cardiovascular tissue would be improved.

Optimization of Chitinase Production by Bacillus pumilus Using Plackett-Burman Design and Response Surface Methodology.

A soil bacterium capable of degrading chitin on chitin agar plates was isolated and identified as Bacillus pumilus isolate U5 on the basis of 16S rDNA sequence analysis. In order to optimize culture conditions for chitinase production by this bacterium, a two step approach was employed. First, the effects of several medium components were studied using the Plackett-Burman design. Among various components tested, chitin and yeast extract showed positive effect on enzyme production while MgSO4 and FeSO4 had negative effect. However, the linear model proved to be insufficient for determining the optimum levels for these components due to a highly significant curvature effect. In the second step, Box-Behnken response surface methodology was used to determine the optimum values. It was noticed that a quadratic polynomial equation fitted he experimental data appropriately. The optimum concentrations for chitin, yeast extract, MgSO4 and FeSO4 were found to be 4.76, 0.439, 0.0055 and 0.019 g/L, respectively, with a predicted value of chitinase production of 97.67 U/100 mL. Using this statistically optimized medium, the practical chitinase production reached 96.1 U/100 mL.