Gene Therapy for Regenerative Medicine.

The development of biological methods over the past decade has stimulated great interest in the possibility to regenerate human tissues. Advances in stem cell research, gene therapy, and tissue engineering have accelerated the technology in tissue and organ regeneration. However, despite significant progress in this area, there are still several technical issues that must be addressed, especially in the clinical use of gene therapy.

Developing 3D Technology for Drug Discovery.

Developing 3D living systems will open many doors and lead to significant improvements in biological tools, drug discovery process, lead identification as well as therapeutic approaches. The miniaturization of this approach allows one to perform many more experiments than previously possible more simply. 3D in vitro technology aims to develop a set of tools that are simple, inexpensive, portable, and robust that could be commercialized and used in various fields of biomedical sciences, such as drug discovery, diagnostic tools, therapeutic approaches, and regenerative medicine.

Safety Evaluation of Nanotechnology Products.

Nanomaterials are now being used in a wide variety of biomedical applications. Medical and health-related issues, however, have raised major concerns, in view of the potential risks of these materials against tissue, cells, and/or organs and these are still poorly understood. These particles are able to interact with the body in countless ways, and they can cause unexpected and hazardous toxicities, especially at cellular levels.

Retraction Note: In Vitro Transfection of Plasmid DNA by Amine Derivatives of Gelatin Accompanied with Ultrasound Irradiation.

The Editor-in-Chief has retracted this article [1] at the request of the corresponding author. Figure 1B appears to be identical to Figure 1D, despite being under different experimental conditions.

Cyclopropenium Nanoparticles and Gene Transfection in Cells.

Non-viral vectors for the transfection of genetic material are at the frontier of medical science. In this article, we introduce for the first time, cyclopropenium-containing nanoparticles as a cationic carrier for gene transfection, as an alternative to the common quaternary ammonium transfection agents. Cyclopropenium-based cationic nanoparticles were prepared by crosslinking poly(ethylene imine) (PEI) with tetrachlorocyclopropene.

Current progress in hepatic tissue regeneration by tissue engineering.

Liver, as a vital organ, is responsible for a wide range of biological functions to maintain homeostasis and any type of damages to hepatic tissue contributes to disease progression and death. Viral infection, trauma, carcinoma, alcohol misuse and inborn errors of metabolism are common causes of liver diseases are a severe known reason for leading to end-stage liver disease or liver failure. In either way, liver transplantation is the only treatment option which is, however, hampered by the increasing scarcity of organ donor.

Retraction Note: Enhanced suppression of tumor growth using a combination of NK4 plasmid DNA-PEG engrafted cationized dextran complex and ultrasound irradiation.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Bone defect healing is induced by collagen sponge/polyglycolic acid.

We have evaluated the capability of a collagen/poly glycolic acid (PGA) scaffold in regeneration of a calvarial bone defects in rabbits. 4 bone critical size defects (CSD) were created in the calvarial bone of each rabbit. The following 4 treatment modalities were tested (1) a collagen/PGA scaffold (0.

Tissue engineering strategies for the induction of angiogenesis using biomaterials.

Angiogenesis is touted as a fundamental procedure in the regeneration and restoration of different tissues. The induction of de novo blood vessels seems to be vital to yield a successful cell transplantation rate loaded on various scaffolds. Scaffolds are natural or artificial substances that are considered as one of the means for delivering, aligning, maintaining cell connection in a favor of angiogenesis.

Assessment of Magnetic Dextran-Spermine Nanoparticles for Capecitabine Delivery to Cancerous Cells.

Cationic polymeric nanoparticles have great potential for developing drug delivery systems with limited side effects for tumor medication. The goal of this research is investigation of cationic dextran-spermine polymer (DS) efficacy for improvement of hydrophilic drug delivery to negatively charged cancerous cells. Capecitabine (as a hydrophilic antineoplastic drug) was loaded into the magnetic dextran-spermine nanoparticles (DS-NPs) via ionic gelation.

Technology of RNA Interference in Advanced Medicine.

Background: RNA interference (RNAi) and related pathways involving small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), microRNAs (miRNAs), and PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) regulate processes such as antiviral defense, genome surveillance, heterochromatin formation, and gene expression in animals, plants, and fungi. Studies on RNAi have revealed a two-step mechanism: (i) Degradation of dsRNA into small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), 21 to 25 nucleotides long, by an RNase III-like activity. (ii) The siRNAs join an RNase complex, RISC (RNA-induced silencing complex), which acts on the mRNA and degrades it.

Biomolecule-Responsive Hydrogels in Medicine.

Recent advances and applications of biomolecule-responsive hydrogels, namely, glucose-responsive hydrogels, protein-responsive hydrogels, and nucleic-acid-responsive hydrogels are highlighted. However, achieving the ultimate purpose of using biomolecule-responsive hydrogels in preclinical and clinical areas is still at the very early stage and calls for more novel designing concepts and advance ideas. On the way toward the real/clinical application of biomolecule-responsive hydrogels, plenty of factors should be extensively studied and examined under both in vitro and in vivo conditions.

Long bone mesenchymal stem cells (Lb-MSCs): clinically reliable cells for osteo-diseases.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been designated as the most reliable cells in clinics to treat osteo-diseases because of their versatile nature. MSCs, isolated from long bone (Lb-MSCs) are rarely reported and named as RIA-MSCs because of the reamer-irrigator-aspirator (RIA) device. The potential of these cells in the treatment of non-union bone fractures made them the ideal candidates to be studied for clinical practices.

Transferrin-conjugated magnetic dextran-spermine nanoparticles for targeted drug transport across blood-brain barrier.

Application of many vital hydrophilic medicines have been restricted by blood-brain barrier (BBB) for treatment of brain diseases. In this study, a targeted drug delivery system based on dextran-spermine biopolymer was developed for drug transport across BBB. Drug loaded magnetic dextran-spermine nanoparticles (DS-NPs) were prepared via ionic gelation followed by transferrin (Tf) conjugation as targeting moiety.

Prospects of siRNA applications in regenerative medicine.

Small interfering RNA (siRNA) has established its reputation in the field of tissue engineering owing to its ability to silence the proteins that inhibit tissue regeneration. siRNA is capable of regulating cellular behavior during tissue regeneration processes. The concept of using siRNA technology in regenerative medicine derived from its ability to inhibit the expression of target genes involved in defective tissues and the possibility to induce the expression of tissue-inductive factors that improve the tissue regeneration process.

PGA-incorporated collagen: Toward a biodegradable composite scaffold for bone-tissue engineering.

Nowadays composite scaffolds based on synthetic and natural biomaterials have got attention to increase healing of non-union bone fractures. To this end, different aspects of collagen sponge incorporated with poly(glycolic acid) (PGA) fiber were investigated in this study. Collagen solution (6.

Importance of dual delivery systems for bone tissue engineering.

Bone formation is a complex process that requires concerted function of multiple growth factors. For this, it is essential to design a delivery system with the ability to load multiple growth factors in order to mimic the natural microenvironment for bone tissue formation. However, the short half-lives of growth factors, their relatively large size, slow tissue penetration, and high toxicity suggest that conventional routes of administration are unlikely to be effective.

Folate receptor-targeted multimodal polymersomes for delivery of quantum dots and doxorubicin to breast adenocarcinoma: In vitro and in vivo evaluation.

In this study, we report the design and delivery of tumor-targeted, quantum dot (QD) and doxorubicin (DOX)-encapsulated PEG-PLGA nanopolymersomes (NPs) for the imaging and chemotherapy of breast cancer. To achieve active cancer targeting, QD and DOX-encapsulated NPs were conjugated with folate for folate-binding protein receptor-guided delivery, which overexpressed in many cancer cells. Hydrophobic DOX and hydrophilic MSA-capped QD were encapsulated in the bilayer and core of the PEG-PLGA nanopolymersomes, respectively.

Application of a Cu-chitosan/multiwalled carbon nanotube film-modified electrode for the sensitive determination of rutin.

A new sensitive electrochemical sensor, a glassy carbon electrode modified with chemically cross-linked copper-complexed chitosan/multiwalled carbon nanotubes (Cu-CS/MWCNT/GCE), for rutin analysis was constructed. Experimental investigations of the influence of several parameters showed that the rutin can effectively accumulate on the surface of the Cu-CS/MWCNT/GCE, which accumulation caused a pair of well-defined redox peaks in the electrochemical signal when measurements were carried out in Britton-Robinson buffer solution (pH 3, 0.04 M).