26 Development of human amniotic membrane products for regenerative medicine applications.

Introduction: Human amniotic membrane (HAM) has important biological properties that make this tissue an ideal substrate for regenerative medicine applications, including treatment of ocular diseases and wound healing. NHSBT can successfully decellularise HAM for promoting enhancement of limbal stem cell expansion in vitro more efficiently than the cellular HAM. In this study we present new formulations of decellularised HAM as freeze-dried powder and derived natural hydrogel.

Optimizing Attachment of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells on Poly(ε-caprolactone) Electrospun Yarns.

Research into biomaterials and tissue engineering often includes cell-based in vitro investigations, which require initial knowledge of the starting cell number. While researchers commonly reference their seeding density this does not necessarily indicate the actual number of cells that have adhered to the material in question. This is particularly the case for materials, or scaffolds, that do not cover the base of standard cell culture well plates.

Dynamic loading of electrospun yarns guides mesenchymal stem cells towards a tendon lineage.

Alternative strategies are required when autograft tissue is not sufficient or available to reconstruct damaged tendons. Electrospun fibre yarns could provide such an alternative. This study investigates the seeding of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSC) on electrospun yarns and their response when subjected to dynamic tensile loading.

Cyclic tensile strain upon human mesenchymal stem cells in 2D and 3D culture differentially influences CCNL2, WDR61 and BAHCC1 gene expression levels.

It has been shown that tensile strain can alter cell behaviour. Evidence exists to confirm that human mesenchymal stem cells can be encouraged to differentiate in response to tensile loading forces. We have investigated the short-term effects of cyclic tensile strain (3%, 1 Hz) on gene expression in primary human mesenchymal stem cells in monolayer and whilst encapsulated in a self-assembled peptide hydrogel.