In vitro generation of functional murine heart organoids via FGF4 and extracellular matrix.

Our understanding of the spatiotemporal regulation of cardiogenesis is hindered by the difficulties in modeling this complex organ currently by in vitro models. Here we develop a method to generate heart organoids from mouse embryonic stem cell-derived embryoid bodies. Consecutive morphological changes proceed in a self-organizing manner in the presence of the laminin-entactin (LN/ET) complex and fibroblast growth factor 4 (FGF4), and the resulting in vitro heart organoid possesses atrium- and ventricle-like parts containing cardiac muscle, conducting tissues, smooth muscle and endothelial cells that exhibited myocardial contraction and action potentials.

Utility of a rotation/revolution-type agitator for chondrocyte isolation during preparation of engineered cartilage.

During the manufacture of cell- and tissue-based products, such as engineered cartilage for autologous chondrocyte implantation, maximizing the number of cells isolated from donor tissue substantially improves the productivity of these products. The method used for agitating tissues with digestive fluid and enzymes can considerably affect both the quality and quantity of isolated cells. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a rotation/revolution-type agitator for chondrocyte isolation following the enzymatic digestion of rat costal cartilage.

Characterization of poly(L-glutamic acid)-grafted hyaluronan as a novel candidate medicine and biomedical device for intra-articular injection.

A novel hyaluronan (HA) derivative, poly(L-glutamic acid)-grafted hyaluronan (PGA-g-HA), was synthesized to improve the durability of conventional HA products for intra-articular injection. The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of the novel HA derivative in terms of viscoelasticity, degradation behavior, non-immunogenicity, and bioactivity using preliminary in vitro and in vivo experiments. The storage modulus (G') and loss modulus (G″) of PGA-g-HA were similar to those of HA80 (approximately 8.