Search results for "Healing"
showing 10 items of 642 documents
Coagulation and fibrosis in chronic liver disease.
2008
In the hepatic tissue repair mechanism, hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) are recruited at the site of injury and their changes reflect paracrine stimulation by all neighbouring cell types, including sinusoidal endothelial cells, Kupffer cells, hepatocytes, platelets and leucocytes. Thrombin converts circulating fibrinogen to fibrin, promotes platelet aggregation, is a potent activator of endothelial cells, acts as a chemoattractant for inflammatory cells and is a mitogen and chemoattractant for fibroblasts and vascular smooth muscle cells. Most of the cellular effects elicited by thrombin are mediated via a family of widely expressed G-protein-coupled receptors termed protease activated recept…
In Vivo Gene-Silencing in Fibrotic Liver by siRNA-Loaded Cationic Nanohydrogel Particles
2015
Cationic nanohydrogel particles loaded with anti-Col1α1 siRNA suppress collagen synthesis and deposition in fibrotic mice: Systemically administered 40 nm sized nanogel particles accumulate in collagen-expressing cells in the liver. Their siRNA payload induces a sequence specific in vivo gene knockdown affording an efficient antifibrotic effect in mice with liver fibrosis.
Evolving therapies for liver fibrosis
2013
Fibrosis is an intrinsic response to chronic injury, maintaining organ integrity when extensive necrosis or apoptosis occurs. With protracted damage, fibrosis can progress toward excessive scarring and organ failure, as in liver cirrhosis. To date, antifibrotic treatment of fibrosis represents an unconquered area for drug development, with enormous potential but also high risks. Preclinical research has yielded numerous targets for antifibrotic agents, some of which have entered early-phase clinical studies, but progress has been hampered due to the relative lack of sensitive and specific biomarkers to measure fibrosis progression or reversal. Here we focus on antifibrotic approaches for li…
Guar gum/borax hydrogel: Rheological, low field NMR and release characterizations
2013
Guar gum (GG) and Guar gum/borax (GGb) hydrogels are studied by means of rheology, Low Field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (LF NMR) and model drug release tests. These three approaches are used to estimate the mesh size (ζ) of the polymeric network. A comparison with similar Scleroglucan systems is carried out. In the case of GGb, the rheological and Low Field NMR estimations of ζ lead to comparable results, while the drug release approach seems to underestimate ζ. Such discrepancy is attributed to the viscous effect of some polymeric chains that, although bound to the network to one end, can freely fluctuate among meshes. The viscous drag exerted by these chains slows down drug…
A preliminary study of hardness and modulus of elasticity in sheep mandibles submitted to distraction osteogenesis and low-level laser therapy
2011
Objectives: To investigate the quality of newly formed bone in sheep mandibles submitted to distraction osteogenesis and low-level laser therapy (LLLT), based on hardness and modulus of elasticity values. The ideal moment for laser application (during the latency/activation period vs. during the bone consolidation period) was also evaluated. Computed tomography imaging was used to assess relapse as a result of early device removal. Study design: Extraoral distraction devices were placed in five sheep so as to achieve 1.5 cm of lengthened bone in 60 days. Distraction devices were removed 50, 40, and 33 days after surgery. Four animals were treated with LLLT, at different times, and one was u…
3D printing novel in vitro cancer cell culture model systems for lung cancer stem cell study
2021
Two-dimensional (2D) in vitro cell cultures and laboratory animals have been used traditionally as the gold-standard preclinical cancer model systems. However, for cancer stem cell (CSC) studies, they exhibit notable limitations on simulating native environment, which depreciate their translatability for clinical development purposes. In this study, different three-dimensional (3D) printing platforms were used to establish novel 3D cell cultures enriched in CSCs from non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients and cell lines. Rigid scaffolds with an elevated compressive modulus and uniform pores and channels were produced using different filaments. Hydrogel-based scaffolds were printed with…
Heat shock proteins in fibrosis and wound healing: Good or evil?
2014
Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are key regulators of cell homeostasis, and their cytoprotective role has been largely investigated in the last few decades. However, an increasing amount of evidence highlights their deleterious effects on several human pathologies, including cancer, in which they promote tumor cell survival, proliferation and drug resistance. Therefore, HSPs have recently been suggested as therapeutic targets for improving human disease outcomes. Fibrotic diseases and cancer share several properties; both pathologies are characterized by genetic alterations, uncontrolled cell proliferation, altered cell interactions and communication and tissue invasion. The discovery of new HSP…
Keratinocyte-Derived Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony Stimulating Factor Accelerates Wound Healing: Stimulation of Keratinocyte Proliferation, Granulati…
2001
Chronic, nonhealing wounds represent a major clinical challenge to practically all disciplines in modern medicine including dermatology, oncology, surgery, and hematology. In skin wounds, granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) is secreted by keratinocytes shortly after injury and mediates epidermal cell proliferation in an autocrine manner. Many other cells involved in wound healing including macrophages, lymphocytes, fibroblasts, endothelial cells, and dendritic cells synthesize GM-CSF and/or are targets of this cytokine. Therefore, GM-CSF is a pleiotropic cytokine evoking complex processes during wound repair. Despite this complexity and the scarcity of mechanistic unde…
Design, synthesis and stimuli responsive gelation of novel stigmasterol-amino acid conjugates.
2020
Abstract An efficient synthesis of three novel stigmasterol-amino acid (glycine, l -leucine and l -phenylalanine) conjugates as stimuli responsive gelators is reported. The gelation properties of the prepared compounds were investigated in a variety of organic as well as aqueous solvents. The most striking finding of our investigation was that the hydrochloride salts of the prepared conjugates acted as gelators, whereas the neutral conjugates were either non-gelators or formed only a weak gel in anisole. The hydrochloride salts of stigmasteryl glycinate and l -leucinate form gels in n-alcohols (n = 4–10) and in ethane-1,2-diol, and that of stigmasteryl l -phenylalaninate forms gels in aroma…
DIFFERENTIAL SCANNING CALORIMETRY STUDY ON DRUG RELEASE FROM AN INULIN-BASED HYDROGEL AND ITS INTERACTION WITH A BIOMEMBRANE MODEL:pH AND LOADING EFF…
2008
Inulin has been derivatized with methacrylic anhydride (MA) and succinic anhydride (SA) to obtain a methacrylated/succinilated derivative (INU-MA-SA) able to produce a pH sensitive hydrogel after UV irradiation. The hydrogel was characterized and loaded with diflunisal (10.4, 17 and 24%, w/w) chosen as a model drug. The drug release from INU-MA-SA-based hydrogel to a biomembrane model made by unilamellar vesicles of dimyristoylphosphatidyl-choline (DMPC) was investigated at pH 4.0 and 7.4 by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) that appears to be a suitable technique to follow the transfer kinetics of a drug from a controlled release system to a biomembrane model. The drug release from t…