Recognition of the growing role of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSC) in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine requires a thorough understanding of intracellular biochemical and biophysical processes that may direct the cell's commitment to a particular lineage. In this study, we characterized the distinct biomechanical properties of hMSCs, including the average Young's modulus determin...

Biomaterials for bone tissue engineering must be able to instruct cell behavior in the presence of the complex biophysical and biomolecular environments encountered in vivo. While soluble supplementation strategies have been identified to enhance osteogenesis, they are subject to significant diffusive loss in vivo or the need for frequent re-addition in vitro. This investigation therefore explo...

Numerous studies have focused on generation of unfixed bovine pericardium (BP) extracellular matrix (ECM) for clinical application. However, the extent to which maintenance of native ECM niche is capable of directing behavior of repopulating cells remains relatively unexplored. By exploiting the sidedness of BP scaffolds (i.e., serous or fibrous surface), this study aims to determine the effect...

JAG1, the gene for the Jagged-1 ligand (Jag1) in the Notch signaling pathway, is variably mutated in Alagille Syndrome (ALGS). ALGS patients have skeletal defects, and additionally JAG1 has been shown to be associated with low bone mass through genome-wide association studies. Plating human osteoblast precursors (human mesenchymal stem cells—hMSCs) on Jag1 is sufficient to induce osteoblast dif...

Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells (hMSCs) present a promising tool for regenerative medicine. However, ex vivo expansion is necessary to obtain sufficient cells for clinical therapy. Conventional growth media usually contain the critical component fetal bovine serum. For clinical use, chemically defined media will be required. In this study, the capability of two commercial, chemically defined, seru...

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal, neurodegenerative disorder caused by degeneration of motor neurons. The cause for most cases of ALS is multi-factorial,this enhances the need to characterize and isolate specific biomarkers found in biological samples from ALS patients. To this end we use human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSC) derived from the bone marrow of six ALS patients (ALS hMS...

Food-derived bioactive peptides are reported to express a variety of functions in vivo. We studied the in vitro effect of three bioactive tripeptides, isoleucine-proline-proline (IPP), valine-proline-proline (VPP) and leucine-lysine-proline (LKP), on osteoblast proliferation and gene expression. We used UMR-106 osteosarcoma cells, human marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hMSC) and osteoblas...

Aalto University, P.O. Box 11000, FI-00076 Aalto www.aalto.fi Author Pietilä Mika Name of the doctoral dissertation Functionality of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells Assessed by Energy Metabolism and Immunomodulative Capacity Publisher School of Chemical Technology Unit Department of Biotechnology and Chemical Technology Series Aalto University publication series DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS 161/2012 Fie...

UNLABELLED This study evaluated the efficacy of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) in the treatment of intracerebral hematoma (ICH) using a primate model and serial 18F-FDG PET scans. METHODS Twenty-four Macaca fascicularis monkeys (male, 4.2±0.2 kg) were enrolled. The ICH models were established using a stereo-guided injection of 1.5 mL of autologous arterial blood between the right cortex...

BACKGROUND The radiation-induced "bystander effect" (RIBE) was shown to occur in a number of experimental systems both in vitro and in vivo as a result of exposure to ionizing radiation (IR). RIBE manifests itself by intercellular communication from irradiated cells to non-irradiated cells which may cause DNA damage and eventual death in these bystander cells. It is known that human stem cells ...