Cardiac progenitor cells and the development of the human heart

HSP90 and eNOS partially co-localize and change cellular localization in relation to different ECM components in 2D and 3D cultures of adult rat cardiomyocytes.

Background information. Cultivation techniques promoting three-dimensional organization of mammalian cells are of increasing interest, since they confer key functionalities of the native ECM (extracellular matrix) with a power for regenerative medicine applications. Since ECM compliance influences a number of cell functions, Matrigel-based gels have become attractive tools, because of the ease with which their mechanical properties can be controlled. In the present study, we took advantage of the chemical and mechanical tunability of commonly used cell culture substrates, and co-cultures to evaluate, on both two- and three-dimensional cultivated adult rat cardiomyocytes, the impact of ECM c…

IMPLANTATION OF CARDIAC STEM CELL-LOADED POLY-LACTIC ACID AND FIBRINOIN SCAFFOLDS INTO NUDE MICE TO EVALUATE POTENTIAL FOR CARDIAC MUSCLE TISSUE ENGINEERING

THREE-DIMENSIONAL CULTURES AND CO-CULTURES OF ADULT RAT CARDIOMYOCYTES

Evalutaion of HSP60, Procaspase-3 and P53 expression after oxydative stress in NCI-H292 cells.

Human recombinant vasostatin-1 may interfere with cell-extracellular matrix interaction

Recombinant human vasostatin-1 in adult rat myocardiocytes: interactions with Heat Shock Protein 90, endothelial nitric oxide synthase expression and extracellular matrix components

Effects of Conjugated Linoleic Acid and Endurance Training on Peripheral Blood and Bone Marrow of Trained Mice

Fat supplements, especially conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), are increasingly popular ergogenic aids among endurance athletes. To evaluate the importance of fat supplementation in the practice of endurance sports, we investigated the effects of CLA supplementation on body weight, muscle hypertrophy, peripheral blood composition, and bone marrow composition in healthy, young, endurance-trained mice. Young, healthy mice were subdivided into control, trained, and treated groups, according to their running attitudes. Training was performed over a period of 6 weeks on a treadmill, at a gradually increasing duration and speed. CLA-treated groups were gavaged with 0.425 mg x d(-1) CLA supplement fo…

Hsp60 levels in the skeletal muscle are fibre-type specific and increase after endurance training

Role of different endurance training programs on cancer cachexia:pointing particular attention to the gender and age differences Macaluso

Evidence from recent publications indicates that repeated exercise may enhance the quality of life of cancer patients (Maddocks et al., 2012). Regular physical activity may attenuate the adverse effects of cancer therapy, prevent or reverse cachexia and improve survival, although not all the patients are able or willing to undertake programs currently being offered. The aims of this study were to analyze: i) the effects of a progressive endurance exercise (progressive Training, pTR) on survival and cachexia in sedentary (SED) mice inoculated (I) with a fresh fragment of solid C26 tumor [SED-I-pTR; SED-I-SED]; ii) the effect of different protocols of endurance exercise (Trained for 30 min, T…

Cancer as a “Mitochondriopathy”.

Mitochondria are subcellular organelles, whose well-known function is to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP) through oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS). Alterations in respiratory activity and mtDNA appear to be a general feature of malignant cells. The presence of mtDNA mutations has been reported in various cancer cells, and the abundance of mtDNA damage is consistent with the intrinsic susceptibility to constitutive oxidative stress. Research about the functional aspects of mtDNA mutations in cancer development and therapeutic response is likely to be fruitful and to have significant clinical and prognostic impact. Although many studies to date have been focused on the identification an…

3D cultures as an in vitro model to study human vasostatin-1 effects

Skeletal muscle HSP60 expression is fiber-type specific and increases after endurance training

Heat shock protein (Hsp) 60 is primarily localized inside mitochondrial, plays a key role in the translocation of proteins and cytoprotection, and its levels increase in skeletal muscle upon exercise. The purpose of this study was to examine muscle fiber specificity of HSP60 at rest and after an endurance training program of 6 weeks. Forth-eight young (7-weeks old) healthy mice (BALB/c) were subdivided into sedentary and trained groups. Training was performed over a period of 6 weeks on a rota-rod, at a gradually increasing duration and speed. Eight mice of each group were sacrificed after 15, 30 and 45 days. Two days after the last exercise session all mice were sacrificed by cervical disl…

Evaluation of hsp60, procaspase-3 and p53 expression after oxydative stress in H292 cells

BENIGN GASTRIC POLYPS AND HELICOBACTER PYLORI INFECTION.

Soccer players have a better standing balance in nondominant one-legged stance

Rosario Barone1, Filippo Macaluso2, Marcello Traina3,4, Vincenza Leonardi4,5, Felicia Farina1, Valentina Di Felice11Human Anatomy Section 'E. Luna', BioNeC, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy; 2Department of Physiological Science, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa; 3Department of Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular and Renal Diseases, 4Methods and Didactics of Motory Activities, DISMOT, 5Department of General Surgery, Emergency and Organ Transplants (GENURTO), University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy  Rosario Barone and Filippo Macaluso contributed equally to the workAbstract: The purpose of this study was to analyze the differences in standing balan…

Cardiac Stem Cell Research: An Elephant in the Room?

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the industrialized world, and stem cell therapy seems to be a promising treatment for injured cardiac tissue. To reach this goal, the scientific community needs to find a good source of stem cells that can be used to obtain new myocardium in a very period range of time. Since there are many ethical and technical problems with using embryonic stem cells as a source of cells with cardiogenic potential, many laboratories have attempted to isolate potential cardiac stem cells from several tissues. The best candidates seem to be cardiac "progenitor" and/or "stem" cells, which can be isolated from subendocardial biopsies from the same patient or from…

Oxidative stress apoptosis in carcinogenesis: molecular players and interactions.

SFRR-E Young Investigator AwardeeαB-crystallin modulation after acute exercise in skeletal muscle: the role of oxidative stress and fiber composition.

αB-crystallin (CRYAB) is a member of the small heat shock proteins implicated in various biological functions, particularly in skeletal muscle where it is involved in adaptive remodelling processes, activation of gene transcription and stabilization of nascent proteins.In this research we analysed αB-crystallin' response in mouse gastrocnemius at 15' and 30' of recovery from an acute aerobic exercise (1hour), correlating its modulation with oxidative stress level and fiber composition, red (RG) and white gastrocnemius (WG).We found for the first time that the acute exercise lead to a short term, specific increase of phospho-αB-crystallin level (pCRYAB) in the RG, while no changes were obser…

Endurance raining damages small airway epithelium in mice

Vasostatin-1 may bind to an extracellular matrix interacting protein

Study of the effects of Pleurotuseryngii var. eryngii on heat shock proteins and cytokines levels in a mouse model of colon carcinoma

Medicinal mushrooms are wonderful source of nutraceuticals with a wide range of benefit for human health. The current anti-cancer therapy is not always target specific and often is associated with complications for patients. Therefore new effective and less toxic therapeutic approaches are needed. Heat shock proteins (Hsps) are highly expressed in a variety of cancer types contributing to tumor cell propagation. Here, we treated C26 colon cancer cells with a cold-water extracts of an edible mushrooms Pleurotuseryngii var. eryngii (Pleuery). Hsp90, 70, 60 and 27 levels were measured by western blotting and immunofluorescence analysis. Moreover, we evaluated Pleueryanti cancer effect in an an…

The early response of αB-crystallin to a single bout of aerobic exercise in mouse skeletal muscles depends upon fiber oxidative features

Besides its substantial role in eye lens, αB-crystallin (HSPB5) retains fundamental function in striated muscle during physiological or pathological modifications. In this study, we aimed to analyse the cellular and molecular factors driving the functional response of HSPB5 protein in different muscles from mice subjected to an acute bout of non-damaging endurance exercise or in C2C12 myocytes upon exposure to pro-oxidant environment, chosen as “in vivo” and “in vitro” models of a physiological stressing conditions, respectively.To this end, red (GR) and white gastrocnemius (GW), as sources of slow-oxidative and fast-glycolytic/oxidative fibers, as well as the soleus (SOL), mainly composed …

Silk fibroin scaffolds enhance cell commitment of adult rat cardiac progenitor cells.

The use of three-dimensional (3D) cultures may induce cardiac progenitor cells to synthesize their own extracellular matrix (ECM) and sarcomeric proteins to initiate cardiac differentiation. 3D cultures grown on synthetic scaffolds may favour the implantation and survival of stem cells for cell therapy when pharmacological therapies are not efficient in curing cardiovascular diseases and when organ transplantation remains the only treatment able to rescue the patient’s life. Silk fibroin-based scaffolds may be used to increase cell affinity to biomaterials and may be chemically modified to improve cell adhesion. In the present study, porous, partially orientated and electrospun nanometric n…

Morphological features of the idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.

Evaluation od hsp60, pro-caspase-3 and p53 expression after oxidative stress in NCI-H292 cells

A mouse model of alcoholic liver disease reveals protection by Lactobacillus fermentum

The knowledge and treatment of alcoholic liver disease is still plagued with gaps mostly due to the inherent limitations of research with patients. We developed an animal model for studying liver histopathology, Hsp-chaperones involvement, and response to treatment. The system was standardized using mice to which ethanol was orally administered alone or in combination with Lactobacillus fermentum for 4, 8 and 12 weeks and applying a battery of techniques (histology, immunohistochemistry, Western blotting, real-time PCR, immunoprecipitation, 3-nitrotyrosine labeling) to assess liver pathology and Hsp60, iNOS gene expression and protein levels, and Hsp60 post-translational modifications. Stea…

Poly-lactic acid and fibrinoin scaffolds as three-dimensional device to differentiate cardiac stem cells: in vitro and in vivo studies

Italian Journal of Anatomy and Embryology, Vol 115, No 1/2 (Supplement) 2010

Cell- extracellular matrix interaction: a putative non-conventional target of vasostatin-1

Embryonic and foetal Islet-1 positive cells in human hearts are also positive to c-Kit.

During embryogenesis, the mammalian heart develops from a primitive heart tube originating from two bilateral primary heart fields located in the lateral plate mesoderm. Cells belongings to the pre-cardiac mesoderm will differentiate into early cardiac progenitors, which express early transcription factors which are also common to the Isl-1 positive cardiac progenitor cells isolated from the developing pharyngeal mesoderm and the foetal and post-natal mice hearts. A second population of cardiac progenitor cells positive to c-Kit has been abundantly isolated from adult hearts. Until now, these two populations have been considered two different sets of progenitor cells present in the heart in…

Exercise-Induced Activation and Translocation of αB-Crystallin in Skeletal Muscle Depends upon Fiber Type and Oxidative Stress

Alpha B-crystallin (CRYAB) is a member of the small heat shock proteins implicated in various biological functions, particularly in skeletal muscle tissue [1], where it results to be modulated following exercise-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) [2]. In this work we aimed to analyse the CRYAB response to acute exercise with respect muscle fiber composition and to identify the underlying molecular mechanism by the utilization of the C2C12 “in vitro” cellular model. Our results highlighted as acute exercise determines a specific increase of phospho-CRYAB both in the red, but not white, gastrocnemius (GS), with an higher amount of oxidative and oxidative-glycolytic fibers, and in soleus (S…

MUSCLE WASTING AND CARDIAC MUSCLE DAMAGE IN CACHECTIC PATIENTS

Muscle wasting is a degeneration of the muscle tissue that can derive from several patho-logical situations, but most of the times is caused by a condition of cachexia in patients with cancer or other diseases. This degeneration results from a decrease in protein syn-thesis and an increase in protein degradation. This is caused mainly by the overexpres-sion of ubiquitin-proteosome-system (UPS) elements, under the control of factors re-leased in cachexia that lead cells toward a catabolic rather than an anabolic pathway. Both skeletal and cardiac muscles can be affected by muscle wasting and until now an effective treatment is unknown. Only experimental trials of exercise training bring to a…

ANP and CD34 expression in human dilated cardiomiopathies: a new insight

Chlamydia trachomatis Infection and Anti-Hsp60 Immunity: The Two Sides of the Coin

Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) infection is one of the most common causes of reproductive tract diseases and infertility. CT-Hsp60 is synthesized during infection and is released in the bloodstream. As a consequence, immune cells will produce anti-CT-Hsp60 antibodies. Hsp60, a ubiquitous and evolutionarily conserved chaperonin, is normally sequestered inside the cell, particularly into mitochondria. However, upon cell stress, as well as during carcinogenesis, the chaperonin becomes exposed on the cell surface (sf-Hsp60) and/or is secreted from cells into the extracellular space and circulation. Reports in the literature on circulating Hsp and anti-Hsp antibodies are in many cases short on detai…

ADULT STEM CELLS: THE REAL ROOT INTO THE EMBRYO?

During embryonic development, a pool of cells may become a reserve of undifferentiated cells, the embryo-stolen adult stem cells (ESASC). ESASC may be responsible for adult tissue homeostasis, as well as disease development. Transdifferentiation is a sort of reprogramming of ESASC from one germ layer-derived tissue towards another. Transdifferentiation has been described to take place from mesoderm to ectodermal- or endodermal-derived tissues and viceversa but not from ectodermal- to endodermal-derived tissues. We hypothesise that two different populations of ESASC could exist, the first ecto/mesoblast-committed and the second endo/mesoblast-committed. If confirmed, this hypothesis could le…

A rare cause of acute cholecystitis

Analisi quantitativa del tessuto tendineo di ratto adulto allenato

Trattamento dei versamenti pleurici secondari a neoplasia maligna: nostra esperienza

Obbietivi:Il versamento pleurico di natura maligna ( VPM) è indice di malattia neoplastica avanzata associato a bassa aspettativa di vita.A [UTF-8?]tutt’oggi il trattamento mira essenzialmente a migliorare la qualità di vita. Metodi: dal Gennaio 2000 al Settembre 2004, sono stati trattati 90 pazienti affetti da VPM ( età media 55 anni).La neoplasia primitiva nel 40% dei casi era di origine polmonare, nel 25% mammaria e nel 35% di altra sede. Ventisei pazienti sono stati sottoposti solamente a toracentesi evacuativa a causa delle scadenti condizioni fisiche ( pazienti con indice di Karnovski < 30%), mentre i restanti 64 pazienti sono stati sottoposti a toracentesi e pleurodesi chimica con …

EVALUATION OF HSP60, PROCASPASE-3 AND p53 EXPRESSION AFTER OXYDATIVE STRESS IN NCI-H292 CELLS

Effect of Exercise on Fatty Acid Metabolism and Adipokine Secretion in Adipose Tissue

Increased physical activity is an optimal way to maintain a good health. During exercise, triacylglycerols, an energy reservoir in adipose tissue, are hydrolyzed to free fatty acids (FAs) which are then released to the circulation, providing a fuel for working muscles. Thus, regular physical activity leads to a reduction of adipose tissue mass and improves metabolism. However, the reduction of lipid reservoir is also associated with many other interesting changes in adipose tissue FA metabolism. For example, a prolonged exercise contributes to a decrease in lipoprotein lipase activity and resultant reduction of FA uptake. This results in the improvement of mitochondrial function and upregul…

Nandrolone decanoate interferes on testosterone biosynthesis and alters blood-testis barrier.

Nandrolone decanoate (ND) is a synthetic testosterone analogue considered one of the most commonly abused anabolic androgenic steroids by adolescents and athletes. ND is alleged to promote an increase in muscle mass and improves both physical appearance and sporting performance, but ND abuse is often associated with serious adverse effects, interfering with the endocrine system and the reproductive system. In a previous study, we demonstrated that ND treatment of Leydig cells interferes with the biosynthesis of testosterone in a dose increase-dependent fashion (1). As a consequence of the results obtained in vitro, in this study an animal model was utilized to better understand the side eff…

Effects of Nandrolone Stimulation on Testosterone Biosynthesis in Leydig Cells

Anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) are among the drugs most used by athletes for improving physical performance, as well as for aesthetic purposes. A number of papers have showed the side effects of AAS in different organs and tissues. For example, AAS are known to suppress gonadotropin‐releasing hormone, luteinizing hormone, and follicle‐stimulating hormone. This study investigates the effects of nandrolone on testosterone biosynthesis in Leydig cells using various methods, including mass spectrometry, western blotting, confocal microscopy and quantitative real‐time PCR. The results obtained show that testosterone levels increase at a 3.9 μM concentration of nandrolone and return to the ba…

Morphological features of the idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy

Inhibition of Hsp60 expression by doxorubicin and replicative senescence instauration in mucoepidermoid carcinoma cells

Endurance training increases inflammatory cells in small airways of mice

Effetti della temperatura dell'acqua sull'idratazione di nuotatori di fondo

Synthetic scaffolds may be used for the orientation of cardiac stem cells properties, differentiation and extracellular matrix interactions in cardiac tissue engineering: in vitro and in vivo studies.

microRNAs and cardiac progenitor cells

MicroRNAs expression in c-Kit+/Sca-1+/MDR-1+ cardiac stem cells in three dimensional cultures

Effects of conjugated linoleic acid and endurance training on peripheral blood and bone marrow of trained mice

Fat supplements, es- pecially conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), are increasingly popular ergogenic aids among endurance athletes. To evaluate the im- portance of fat supplementation in the practice of endurance sports, we investigated the effects of CLA supplementation on body weight, muscle hypertrophy, peripheral blood composition, and bone marrow composition in healthy, young, endurance- trained mice. Young, healthy mice were subdivided into control, trained, and treated groups, according to their running atti- tudes. Training was performed over a period of 6 weeks on a treadmill, at a gradually increasing duration and speed. CLA- treated groups were gavaged with 0.425 mg·d 1 CLA supplemen…

Exercise and Conjugated Linoleic Acid Supplementation Induce Changes in the Composition of Liver Fatty Acids

Exercise and supplementation with conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) are used to reduce body weight and to improve health. Applied together, they may exert a synergistic effect. However, the effects of exercise and CLA supplementation on liver metabolism are poorly understood. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of exercise and CLA supplementation on fatty acids (FA) composition in mouse liver. We analyzed 44 of known FAs of this organ by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Our results demonstrated that exercise contributed to a decrease in odd-chain FA and an increase in n-6 polyunsaturated FA contents. In turn, CLA stimulated an increase in branched-chain FAs and n-3 polyunsa…

Maximum Water Temperature Limit in Open-Water Swimming Events

BENIGN GASTRIC POLYPS AND HELICOBACTER PYLORI

Nestin as a marker of adult rat cardiac stem cells

Tissue engineering: how to build a heart

Decellularization and recellularization of hearts from newly dead donors is the latest fashion in cardiac tissue engineering. The first paper came out in 2008 in Nature Medicine (Ott et al., 2008), and news has been recently published in Nature again in July 2013 (Maher, 2013). Brendan Maher in this paper summarizes and comments on the latest important results on decellularization of a human heart and explains the steps that are necessary to build a heart from a decellularized organ. Two sources may be used to obtain a decellularized heart: human and pig heart. Another issue to resolve is the time of decellularization, since the detergents used may also destroy the architecture of the organ…

Biomaterials and bioactive molecules to drive differentiation in striated muscle tissue engineering

International audience; The generation of engineered tissues and organs has entered into the clinical practice in response to the chronic lack of organ donors. In particular, for the skeletal and cardiac muscles the translational potential of tissue engineering approaches has clearly been shown, even though the construction of these tissues lags behind others given the hierarchical, highly organized architecture of striated muscles. Failure of the cardiac tissue leads to cardiovascular diseases, which are the leading cause of death in the developed world (Di Felice et al., 2014). On the other hand, there are many clinical cases where the loss of skeletal muscle due to a traumatic injury, an…

Sex-based differences after a single bout of exercise on PGC1α isoforms in skeletal muscle: A pilot study

To date, there are limited and incomplete data on possible sex-based differences in fiber-types of skeletal muscle and their response to physical exercise. Adult healthy male and female mice completed a single bout of endurance exercise to examine the sex-based differences of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1 alpha (PGC1α), heat shock protein 60 (Hsp60), interleukin 6 (IL-6) expression, as well as the Myosin Heavy Chain (MHC) fiber-type distribution in soleus and extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles. Our results showed for the first time that in male soleus, a muscle rich of type IIa fibers, endurance exercise activates specifically genes involved in mito…

European Week of Sport: innovative initiative of European Commission that inspires children to be active

BAC KGROU ND: Estimates indicate that more than one third of European adults are inactive, despite the known benefits of physical activity. In 2015 the European Commission launched the European Week of Sport (EWoS), to encourage people to engage in sport and physical activity. The aim of this study was to evaluate if participation in the EWoS could motivate children to participate in physical activity in future. METHOD S: A total of 10,892 children (aged 6-14), from 6 EU cities (Palermo, Italy; Ankara, Turkey; Lousada, Portugal; Gardabaer, Iceland; Rijeka, Croatia; Albacete, Spain), were enrolled in sport activities (running sport event, extra hours of physical activity, seminars on physica…

DNA sequence and comparative analysis of homologous HSP60 genes of Chlamydia trachomatis serovar D and Homo Sapiens

Nandrolone decanoate interferes with testosterone biosynthesis altering blood-testis barrier components

Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate whether nandrolone decanoate (ND) use affects testosterone production and testicular morphology in a model of trained and sedentary mice. A group of mice underwent endurance training while another set led a sedentary lifestyle and were freely mobile within cages. All experimental groups were treated with either ND or peanut oil at different doses for 6 weeks. Testosterone serum levels were measured via liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry. Western blot analysis and quantitative real‐time PCR were utilized to determine gene and protein expression levels of the primary enzymes implicated in testosterone biosynthesis and gene expression leve…

ANP and CD34 Expression in Human Dilated Cardiomiophaties: a new insight.

Cardiac Stem Cells their origin and their application

Hsp60 in Skeletal Muscle Fiber Biogenesis and Homeostasis: From Physical Exercise to Skeletal Muscle Pathology

Hsp60 is a molecular chaperone classically described as a mitochondrial protein with multiple roles in health and disease, participating to the maintenance of protein homeostasis. It is well known that skeletal muscle is a complex tissue, rich in proteins, that is, subjected to continuous rearrangements, and this homeostasis is affected by many different types of stimuli and stresses. The regular exercise induces specific histological and biochemical adaptations in skeletal muscle fibers, such as hypertrophy and an increase of mitochondria activity and oxidative capacity. The current literature is lacking in information regarding Hsp60 involvement in skeletal muscle fiber biogenesis and reg…

Physiactisome: A New Nanovesicle Drug Containing Heat Shock Protein 60 for Treating Muscle Wasting and Cachexia.

Currently, no commercially available drugs have the ability to reverse cachexia or counteract muscle wasting and the loss of lean mass. Here, we report the methodology used to develop Physiactisome&mdash;a conditioned medium released by heat shock protein 60 (Hsp60)&mdash;overexpressing C2C12 cell lines enriched with small and large extracellular vesicles. We also present evidence supporting its use in the treatment of cachexia. Briefly, we obtain a nanovesicle-based secretion by genetically modifying C2C12 cell lines with an Hsp60-overexpressing plasmid. The secretion is used to treat na&iuml;ve C2C12 cell lines. Physiactisome activates the expression of PGC-1&alpha; isoform 1, which is di…

Identification and characterization of the nano-sized vesicles released by muscle cells

AbstractSeveral cell types secrete small membranous vesicles that contain cell-specific collections of proteins, lipids, and genetic material. The function of these vesicles is to allow cell-to-cell signaling and the horizontal transfer of their cargo molecules. Here, we demonstrate that muscle cells secrete nano-sized vesicles and that their release increases during muscle differentiation. Analysis of these nanovesicles allowed us to characterize them as exosome-like particles and to define the potential role of the multifunctional protein Alix in their biogenesis.

Three-Dimensional cultures and co-coltures of adult rat cardiomyocytes

Hsp60 expression in skeletal muscle increase after endurance training

Effect of conjugated linoleic acid on testosterone synthesis

Endurance training damages small airway epithelium in mice.

Doxorubicin anti-tumor mechanisms include Hsp60 post-translational modifications leading to the Hsp60/p53 complex dissociation and instauration of replicative senescence.

Hsp60 is a pro-carcinogenic chaperonin in certain tumor types by interfering with apoptosis and with tumor cell death. In these tumors, it is not known whether or not doxorubicin anti-tumor effects include a blockage of the pro-carcinogenic action of this protein. We used the human lung mucoepidermoid cell line NCI-H292 and different doses of doxorubicin to measure cell viability, cell cycle progression, cell senescence indicators, Hsp60 levels and its post-translational modifications as well as the release of the chaperonin into the extracellular environment. Cell viability was reduced in relation to doxorubicin dose and this was paralleled by the appearance of cell senescence markers. Con…

Effects of water temperature on swimmers

alphaB-crystallin modulation after acute exercise in skeletal muscle: the role of oxidative stress and fiber composition

Effects of Conjugated Linoleic Acid Associated With Endurance Exercise on Muscle Fibres and Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor γ Coactivator 1 α Isoforms

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) has been reported to improve muscle hypertrophy, steroidogenesis, physical activity, and endurance capacity in mice, although the molecular mechanisms of its actions are not completely understood. The aim of the present study was to identify whether CLA alters the expression of any of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator 1α (PGC1α) isoforms, and to evaluate the possible existence of fibre-type-specific hypertrophy in the gastrocnemius and plantaris muscles. Mice were randomly assigned to one of four groups: placebo sedentary, CLA sedentary, placebo trained, or CLA trained. The CLA groups were gavaged with 35 μl per day of Tonalin® FFA 8…

Extracellular Vesicles: Delivery Vehicles of Myokines

Movement and regular physical activity are two important factors that help the human body prevent, reduce and treat different chronic diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart diseases, hypertension, sarcopenia, cachexia and cancer. During exercise, several tissues release molecules into the blood stream, and are able to mediate beneficial effects throughout the whole body. In particular, contracting skeletal muscle cells have the capacity to communicate with other organs through the release of humoral factors that play an important role in the mechanisms of adaptation to physical exercise. These muscle-derived factors, today recognized as myokines, act as endocrine and paracrine hor…

Effects of chromogranin a-derived peptides on hsp90 expression in co-cultures of adult rat cardiac myocytes and fibroblasts

Silk-based matrices and c-Kit positive cardiac progenitor cells for a cellularized silk fibroin scaffold: study of an in vivo model.

The production of a cellularized silk fibroin scaffold is very difficult because it is actually impossible to differentiate cells into a well-organized cardiac tissue. Without vascularization, not only do cell masses fail to grow, but they may also exhibit an area of necrosis, indicating a lack of oxygen and nutrients. In the present study, we used the so-called tyrosine protein kinase kit (c-kit)-positive cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs) to generate cardiac cellularized silk fibroin scaffolds, multipotent cells isolated from the adult heart to date that can show some degree of differentiation toward the cardiac phenotype. To test their ability to differentiate into the cardiac phenotype in …

Do Fat Supplements Increase Physical Performance?

Fish oil and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) belong to a popular class of food supplements known as "fat supplements", which are claimed to reduce muscle glycogen breakdown, reduce body mass, as well as reduce muscle damage and inflammatory responses. Sport athletes consume fish oil and CLA mainly to increase lean body mass and reduce body fat. Recent evidence indicates that this kind of supplementation may have other side-effects and a new role has been identified in steroidogenensis. Preliminary findings demonstrate that fish oil and CLA may induce a physiological increase in testosterone synthesis. The aim of this review is to describe the effects of fish oil and CLA on physical performan…

Ultrastructural and Functional Investigation of c-Kit positive cells isolated from Adult Rat Myocardium

Effect of Conjugated Linoleic Acid on Testosterone Levels In Vitro and In Vivo After an Acute Bout of Resistance Exercise

The purposes of the present study were to investigate the effect of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) supplementation on testosterone levels in vitro on a cell line derived from Leydig cells (R2C) and in vivo in the blood of physically active subjects before and after a resistance exercise bout. In vitro R2C cells were treated with different CLA concentrations (0-30 μM) for 24 and 48 hours. After treatment, supernatant media were tested to determine testosterone secretion. The CLA increased the testosterone secretion only after 48 hours. In vivo, 10 resistance-trained male subjects, in a double-blind placebo-controlled and crossover study design were randomized for 3 weeks of either 6 g·d⁻¹ CL…

αB-crystallin activation in cardiac muscle by acute exercise mirrors the sHSP kinetic in oxidative skeletal muscle fibers: animal and cellular study

Alpha-B-Crystallin (CRYAB), a Small Heat Shock Protein sensitive to oxidative stress, is implicated in various biological processes in many tissues. In cardiac muscle, CRYAB exerts a cardio protective role in ischemia-induced damage preventing apoptosis and necrosis. We aimed to study αB-crystallin’ response in mouse cardiac tissue (H), at different time of recovery from an acute aerobic exercise (1 hour), correlating its modulation with oxidative stress level. We found that a single bout exercise lead to a specific short-term increase of phospho-αB-crystallin level (pCRYAB), without changes of its total expression. Further, the level of 4-hydroxynonenal, a marker of lipidic peroxidation, h…

Chronic brain damage in HIV-infected individuals under antiretroviral therapy is associated with viral reservoirs, sulfatide release, and compromised cell-to-cell communication

HIV infection has become a chronic and manageable disease due to the effective use of antiretroviral therapies (ART); however, several chronic aging-related comorbidities, including cognitive impairment, remain a major public health issue. However, these mechanisms are unknown. Here, we identified that glial and myeloid viral reservoirs are associated with local myelin damage and the release of several myelin components, including the lipid sulfatide. Soluble sulfatide compromised gap junctional communication and calcium wave coordination, essential for proper cognition. We propose that soluble sulfatide could be a potential biomarker and contributor to white matter compromise observed in H…

EFFECTS OF CONJUGATED LINOLEIC ACID AND RESISTANCE TRAINING IN RECREATIONAL ATHLETES

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is a mixture of positional and geometrical isomers of linoleic acid, that are known to posses several physiological effects such as enhancing immune response, reducing arteriosclerosis risk, and inhibiting carcinogenesis. Over the last decade, the use of CLA supplement has become widespread among elite and recreational athletes because it should increase training effects, improve fat oxidation, increase energy delivery, reduce body weight, improve lipid profile, and so on. The purpose of this project is to investigate whether CLA supplementation after a resistance training session affects general markers of muscle damage, total testosterone, cortisol and sex h…

ALCOHOLIC LIVER DISEASE: A MOUSE MODEL REVEALS PROTECTION BY LACTOBACILLUS FERMENTUM

Objectives Alcoholism is one of the most devastating diseases with high incidence, but knowledge of its pathology and treatment is still plagued with gaps mostly because of the inherent limitations of research with patients. We developed an animal model for studying liver histopathology, Hsp (heat-shock protein)-chaperones involvement, and response to treatment. Methods The system was standardized using mice to which ethanol was orally administered alone or in combination with Lactobacillus fermentum following a precise schedule over time and applying, at predetermined intervals, a battery of techniques (histology, immunohistochemistry, western blotting, real-time PCR, immunoprecipitation, …

Editorial: Myokines, Adipokines, Cytokines in Muscle Pathophysiology, Volume II.

No Abstract available

SENESCENCE-ASSOCIATED HSP60 EXPRESSION IN NORMAL HUMAN SKIN FIBROBLASTS

Editorial: Myokines, Adipokines, Cytokines in Muscle Pathophysiology

[No abstract available]

HSP90 AND ENOS PARTIALLY CO-LOCALIZE AND CHANGE CELLULAR LOCALIZATION IN RELATION TO DIFFERENT ECM COMPONENTS IN 2D AND 3D CULTURES OF ADULT RAT CARDIOMYOCYTES.

New biological aspects of Chromogranin A-derived peptides: Focus on vasostatins

Chromogranin A (CgA), one component of the granin family, represents the major soluble protein co-stored and co-released with catecholamines, within chromaffin cells secretory granules. It is considered a diagnostic and prognostic marker of several diseases, including a variety of tumours and cardiac heart failure. It also represents a precursor of biologically active fragments, generated after proteolytic cleavage at the level of the multiple pairs of dibasic sites which enrich its sequence. CgA, and its derived fragments show an old evolutionary history being ubiquitously present throughout the animal word, from mammals to invertebrates. Their biological functions include control of hormo…

Senescence-associated HSP60 expression in Normal Human skin fibroblasts

Normal mammalian fibroblasts cultured in vitro undergo a limited number of divisions before entering a senescent phase in which they can be maintained for long periods but cannot be induced to divide. Senescent cells become unresponsive to growth-promoting signals and exhibit senescent cell morphology with flattened and enlarged cell shape. Several chaperones have a direct effect on cellular senescence. HSP60 has been largely studied in our laboratories and it has been associated with uncontrolled cell proliferation in tumor cells. Since senescence is firmly regulated during cell cycle progression, we wanted to investigate HSP60 protein level during cellular senescence. Our data show that H…

Cardiac stem cell-loaded poly-lactic acid and fibrinoin scaffolds as devices for cardiac muscle tissue regeneration

Alix protein is substrate of Ozz-E3 ligase and modulates actin remodeling in skeletal muscle

Alix/AIP1 is a multifunctional adaptor protein that participates in basic cellular processes, including membrane trafficking and actin cytoskeleton assembly, by binding selectively to a variety of partner proteins. However, the mechanisms regulating Alix turnover, subcellular distribution, and function in muscle cells are unknown. We now report that Alix is expressed in skeletal muscle throughout myogenic differentiation. In myotubes, a specific pool of Alix colocalizes with Ozz, the substrate-binding component of the muscle-specific ubiquitin ligase complex Ozz-E3. We found that interaction of the two endogenous proteins in the differentiated muscle fibers changes Alix conformation and pro…

Cancer-Related Cachexia: The Vicious Circle between Inflammatory Cytokines, Skeletal Muscle, Lipid Metabolism and the Possible Role of Physical Training.

Cachexia is a multifactorial and multi-organ syndrome that is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in late-stage chronic diseases. The main clinical features of cancer-related cachexia are chronic inflammation, wasting of skeletal muscle and adipose tissue, insulin resistance, anorexia, and impaired myogenesis. A multimodal treatment has been suggested to approach the multifactorial genesis of cachexia. In this context, physical exercise has been found to have a general effect on maintaining homeostasis in a healthy life, involving multiple organs and their metabolism. The purpose of this review is to present the evidence for the relationship between inflammatory cytokines, skeletal mus…

JNK pathway and heat shock response mediate the survival of C26 colon carcinoma bearing mice fed with the mushroom Pleurotus eryngii var. eryngii without affecting tumor growth or cachexia.

In the last few years, there has been emerging interest in developing treatments against human diseases using natural bioactive content. Here, the powder of the edible mushroom Pleurotus eryngii var. eryngii was mixed with the normal diet of mice bearing C26 colon carcinoma. Interestingly, it was evidenced by a significant increase in the survival rate of C26 tumor-bearing mice accompanied by a significant increase in Hsp90 and Hsp27 protein levels in the tumors. These data were paralleled by a decrease in Hsp60 levels. The mushroom introduced in the diet induced the inhibition of the transcription of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and IL-1 exerting an anti-inflammatory action. The eff…

Aerobic Exercise and Pharmacological Treatments Counteract Cachexia by Modulating Autophagy in Colon Cancer

Recent studies have correlated physical activity with a better prognosis in cachectic patients, although the underlying mechanisms are not yet understood. In order to identify the pathways involved in the physical activity-mediated rescue of skeletal muscle mass and function, we investigated the effects of voluntary exercise on cachexia in colon carcinoma (C26)-bearing mice. Voluntary exercise prevented loss of muscle mass and function, ultimately increasing survival of C26-bearing mice. We found that the autophagic flux is overloaded in skeletal muscle of both colon carcinoma murine models and patients, but not in running C26-bearing mice, thus suggesting that exercise may release the auto…

Silibin hepatoprotection occur via NFKB signaling inhibition in murine nonalcholic fatty liver disease

Nestin as a marker of adult rat cardiac cells

Preliminary study on the production of canine mesenchymal stem cells from adipose tissue and possibile applications in dogs with orthopaedic lesions.

c-Kit positive cells isolated from Adult Rat Myocardium can organze them-selves into a tissue-like cell mass.

Mild Aerobic Exercise Training Hardly Affects the Diaphragm ofmdxMice

In the mdx mice model of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), mild endurance exercise training positively affected limb skeletal muscles, whereas few and controversial data exist on the effects of training on the diaphragm. The diaphragm was examined in mdx (C57BL/10ScSn-Dmdmdx) and wild-type (WT, C57BL/10ScSc) mice under sedentary conditions (mdx-SD, WT-SD) and during mild exercise training (mdx-EX, WT-EX). At baseline, and after 30 and 45 days (training: 5 d/wk for 6 weeks), diaphragm muscle morphology and Cx39 protein were assessed. In addition, tissue levels of the chaperonins Hsp60 and Hsp70 and the p65 subunit of nuclear factor-kB (NF-kB) were measured in diaphragm, gastrocnemius, and q…

Tetralogy of Fallot as a Model to Study Cardiac Progenitor Cell Migration and Differentiation During Heart Development

Tetralogy of Fallot (ToF) has long been considered a congenital disorder that occurs due to environmental alterations during gestation. Recently, several mutated genes have been discovered that are thought to be responsible for the malformations observed in ToF. These genetic mutations, which are microdeletions, are sporadic and are frequently also present in trisomy 21 patients. The ToF malformations can be lethal, but for the last 50 years, surgical repairs that place an artificial patch to repair the four features of ToF have improved the survival of patients with ToF. However, 0.5% to 6% of patients who survive after surgical repair of ToF die of sudden cardiac death caused by ventricul…

Alix is a substrate of the Ozz-E3 ligase and modulates actin remodeling and plasma membrane stability in skeletal muscle.

Cytoskeleton mediates negative inotropism and lusitropism of chromogranin A-derived peptides (human vasostatin1-78 and rat CgA(1-64)) in the rat heart

Cytoskeleton scaffold in cardiac myocytes provides structural support and compartmentalization of intracellular components. It is implicated in cardiac pathologies including hypertrophy and failure, playing a key role in the determinism of contractile and diastolic dysfunctions. Chromogranin A (CgA) and its derived peptides have revealed themselves as novel cardiovascular modulators. In humans, normal CgA levels considerably increase in several pathologies, including heart failure. Recent data have shown on the unstimulated rat heart that human recombinant Vasostatin-1 (hrVS-1) and rat chromogranin A 1-64 (rCgA(1-64)) induce negative inotropic and lusitropic effects counteracting the beta-a…

Endurance Exercise and Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) Supplementation Up-Regulate CYP17A1 and Stimulate Testosterone Biosynthesis

A new role for fat supplements, in particular conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), has been delineated in steroidogenesis, although the underlying molecular mechanisms have not yet been elucidated. The aims of the present study were to identify the pathway stimulated by CLA supplementation using a cell culture model and to determine whether this same pathway is also stimulated in vivo by CLA supplementation associated with exercise. In vitro, Leydig tumour rat cells (R2C) supplemented with different concentrations of CLA exhibited increasing testosterone biosynthesis accompanied by increasing levels of CYP17A1 mRNA and protein. In vivo, trained mice showed an increase in free plasma testosterone…

Heat shock proteins may have effects on cellular senescence and may lead to neoplastic transformation

IMMUNOLOCALIZATION STUDIES OF A NON-CONVENTIONAL RECEPTOR FOR VASOSTATIN-1 ON THREE-DIMENSIONAL PRIMARY CULTURES OF ADULT RAT MYOCARDIOCYTES

MicroRNA and Cardiac Stem Cell Therapy

Cardiac Progenitor Cells (CPCs) are multipotent cells of the myocardium. They are located inside niches of the heart muscle, can be isolated, characterized and used for cardiac regeneration in stem cell therapy. Actually, CPCs may be isolated by tissue digestion with or without cell sorting, but it is difficult to achieve the maximum level of differentiation when these cells are implanted into a damaged myocardium. The knowledge recently acquired on small molecules of non-coding RNAs, microRNA (miRNA), may improve the use of these cells in stem cell therapy. In fact, these small molecules may be attached to devices or adminstered as they are or in combination with nanoparticles in order to …

Cell-extracellular matrix interaction: a putative non-conventional target of Vasostatin-1. A confocal analysis

Foreign body response to subcutaneously implanted scaffolds for cardiac tissue engineering.

Silk fibroin scaffolds enhance cell commitment of adult rat cardiac progenitor cells

The use of three-dimensional (3D) cultures may induce cardiac progenitor cells to synthesize their own extracellular matrix (ECM) and sarcomeric proteins to initiate cardiac differentiation. 3D cultures grown on synthetic scaffolds may favour the implantation and survival of stem cells for cell therapy when pharmacological therapies are not efficient in curing cardiovascular diseases and when organ transplantation remains the only treatment able to rescue the patient's life. Silk fibroin-based scaffolds may be used to increase cell affinity to biomaterials and may be chemically modified to improve cell adhesion. In the present study, porous, partially orientated and electrospun nanometric n…

OPLA scaffold, collagen I, and horse serum induce a higher degree of myogenic differentiation of adult rat cardiac stem cells

In the last few years, a major goal of cardiac research has been to drive stem cell differentiation to replace damaged myocardium. Several research groups have attempted to differentiate potential cardiac stem cells (CSCs) using bi- or three-dimensional systems supplemented with growth factors or molecules acting as differentiating substances. We hypothesize that these systems failed to induce a complete differentiation because they lacked an architectural space. In the present study, we isolated a pool of small proliferating and fibroblast-like cells from adult rat myocardium. The phenotype of these cells was assessed and the characterized cells were cultured in a collagen I/OPLA scaffold …

Effects of conjugated linoleic acid on bone marrow composition of endurance trained mice

Hsp60 in Skeletal Muscle: From Molecular Anatomy to Pathophysiology

The chaperoning system of an organism is composed of the entire set of chaperones, co-chaperones, and chaperone co-factors and their interactors and receptors. Its functions pertain typically to protein homeostasis but also to many other activities inside and outside cells. In the skeletal muscle, with its multi-molecular structures rich in proteins and their continuous rearrangements, the chaperoning system plays a crucial role. However, little is known about the details of the workings of the chaperoning system in skeletal muscle development and during exercise and disease. Molecular chaperones are surely involved in muscle formation and maintenance under physiologic conditions and under …

Silybin enhances mitochondrial function and inhibits NFkB activation in murine nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Italian Journal of Anatomy and Embryology, Vol 115, No 1/2 (Supplement) 2010

Effects of Conjugated Linoleic Acid Associated With Endurance Exercise on Muscle Fibres and Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor γ Coactivator 1 α Isoforms

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) has been reported to improve muscle hypertrophy, steroidogenesis, physical activity, and endurance capacity in mice, although the molecular mechanisms of its actions are not completely understood. The aim of the present study was to identify whether CLA alters the expression of any of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator 1α (PGC1α) isoforms, and to evaluate the possible existence of fibre-type-specific hypertrophy in the gastrocnemius and plantaris muscles. Mice were randomly assigned to one of four groups: placebo sedentary, CLA sedentary, placebo trained, or CLA trained. The CLA groups were gavaged with 35 μl per day of Tonalin® FFA 8…

Fibroin and poly-lactic acid scaffolds may be used in cardiac tissue engineering to drive the differentiation of cardiac progenitor cells: in vitro and in vivo studies.

Function and Fiber-Type Specific Distribution of Hsp60 and αB-Crystallin in Skeletal Muscles: Role of Physical Exercise

Simple Summary Skeletal muscle represents about 40% of the body mass in humans and it is a copious and plastic tissue, rich in proteins that are subject to continuous rearrangements. Physical exercise is considered a physiological stressor for different organs, in particular for skeletal muscle, and it is a factor able to stimulate the cellular remodeling processes related to the phenomenon of adaptation. All cells respond to various stress conditions by up-regulating the expression and/or activation of a group of proteins called heat shock proteins (HSPs). Although their expression is induced by several stimuli, they are commonly recognized as HSPs due to the first experiments showing thei…

Skeletal muscle Heat shock protein 60 increases after endurance training and induces peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1 α1 expression

AbstractHeat shock protein 60 (Hsp60) is a chaperone localizing in skeletal muscle mitochondria, whose role is poorly understood. In the present study, the levels of Hsp60 in fibres of the entire posterior group of hindlimb muscles (gastrocnemius, soleus and plantaris) were evaluated in mice after completing a 6-week endurance training program. The correlation between Hsp60 levels and the expression of four isoforms of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1 alpha (PGC1α) were investigated only in soleus. Short-term overexpression of hsp60, achieved by in vitro plasmid transfection, was then performed to determine whether this chaperone could have a role in the activa…

Effects of Pleurotus eryngii var. eryngii in "in vitro" and "in vivo" cancerogenetic models

Heat shock proteins (Hsps) are highly expressed in a variety of cancer types contributing to tumor cell propagation and protection against apoptosis [1]. The current anti-cancer therapy is not always target specific and often is associated with complications for patients, Therefore new effective, specific and less toxic therapeutic approaches are needed. Medicinal mushrooms have emerged as wonderful source of nutraceuticals, anti-oxidants, anticancer, prebiotic, anti-inflammatory, cardiovascular, anti-microbial, and anti-diabetic. The ongoing research projects are aimed to promote mushrooms as new generation ‘‘biotherapeutics’’[2]. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the cold-wate…

Effects of endurance training on small airways of mice

Characterization of c-kit positive cardiac stem cells subpopulations obtained from adult rat myocardium

Senescence-associated HSP60 expression in normal human skin fibroblasts

Normal mammalian fibroblasts cultured in vitro undergo a limited number of divisions before entering a senescent phase in which they can be maintained for long periods but cannot be induced to divide. Senescent cells become unresponsive to growth-promoting signals and exhibit senescent cell morphology with flattened and enlarged cell shape. Several chaperones have a direct effect on cellular senescence. HSP60 has been largely studied in our laboratories and it has been associated with uncontrolled cell proliferation in tumor cells. Since senescence is firmly regulated during cell cycle progression, we wanted to investigate HSP60 protein level during cellular senescence. Our data show that H…

Benign gastric polyps and Helicobacter pilori infection

Heat stroke risk for open-water swimmers during long-distance events.

Open-water swimming is a rapidly growing sport discipline worldwide, and clinical problems associated with long-distance swimming are now better recognized and managed more effectively. The most prevalent medical risk associated with an open-water swimming event is hypothermia; therefore, the Federation Internationale De Natation (FINA) has instituted 2 rules to reduce this occurrence related to the minimum water temperature and the time taken to complete the race. Another medical risk that is relevant to open-water swimmers is heat stroke, a condition that can easily go unnoticed. The purpose of this review is to shed light on this physiological phenomenon by examining the physiological re…

αB-crystallin response to a pro-oxidant non-cytotoxic environment in murine cardiac cells: An "in vitro" and "in vivo" study.

The αB-crystallin (HSPB5) protein is modulated in response to a wide variety of stressors generated by multiple physio-pathological conditions, sustained by reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. In cardiac muscle tissue, this protein regulates various cellular processes, such as protein degradation, apoptosis and the stabilization of cytoskeletal elements. In this work, we studied the role of HSPB5 expression, activation and localization in HL-1 murine cardiomyocytes exposed to pro-oxidant and non-cytotoxic H2O2 concentration, as well as in cardiac tissue isolated from mice following an acute, non-damaging endurance exercise. Our results demonstrated that HSPB5 is the most abundant HSP …

IDENTIFICATION OF C-KIT/CD105 AND ISL-1 CELLS IN HUMAN FETAL AND INFANT HEARTS

During embryogenesis, the mammalian heart develops from a primitive heart tube, which derives from two bilateral primary heart fields located in the lateral plate mesoderm. Later on in the development process, the atrioventricular (A-V) canal and the sinu-atrial segment, at the venous pole, and the conotruncus, at the arterial pole, are added to the heart tube just prior to tube looping. In 2001 Waldo and colleagues and Kelly and colleagues demonstrated the presence of a secondary or anterior heart field in the ventral pharyngeal mesoderm. This region contains a pool of NKX2.5 and GATA-4 positive precardiac cells which migrate to the arterial pole of the primary heart tube. Isl-1 is a marke…

HSP90 AND ENOS PARTIALLY CO-LOCALIZE AND CHANGE CELLULAR LOCALIZATION IN RELATION TO DIFFERENT ECM COMPONENTS IN 2D AND 3D CULTURES OF ADULT RAT CARDIOMYCYTES

BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Cultivation techniques promoting three-dimensional organization of mammalian cells are of increasing interest, since they confer key functionalities of the native ECM (extracellular matrix) with a power for regenerative medicine applications. Since ECM compliance influences a number of cell functions, Matrigel-based gels have become attractive tools, because of the ease with which their mechanical properties can be controlled. In the present study, we took advantage of the chemical and mechanical tunability of commonly used cell culture substrates, and co-cultures to evaluate, on both two- and three-dimensional cultivated adult rat cardiomyocytes, the impact of ECM c…

The role of biomaterials in the direction of cardiac stem cells properties, differentiation and extracellular matrix interactions in cardiac tissue engineering

Introduction: One of the main problems in the rapid translation of preclinical cell‐based therapy to restore damaged myocardium is to find the best delivery route and the best time of cell injection into the myocardium. Intramyocardial injection of stem cells is by far the mostused delivery technique in preclinical studies. Three‐dimensional scaffolds may be used to deliver a limited number of stem cells in their undifferentiated state, but many biomaterials may cause a foreign body reaction on their own. We have recently demonstrated that c‐Kit positive cardiac progenitor cells are able to organize themselves into a tissue‐like cell mass in collagen I three‐dimensional cultures within 72h …