Combined effects of surface morphology and mechanical straining magnitudes on the differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells without using biochemical reagents.

Existing studies examining the control of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) differentiation into desired cell types have used a variety of biochemical reagents such as growth factors despite possible side effects. Recently, the roles of biomimetic microphysical environments have drawn much attention in this field. We studied MSC differentiation and changes in gene expression in relation to osteoblast-like cell and smooth muscle-like cell type resulting from various microphysical environments, including differing magnitudes of tensile strain and substrate geometries for 8 days.

A hyaluronate-atelocollagen/beta-tricalcium phosphate-hydroxyapatite biphasic scaffold for the repair of osteochondral defects: a porcine study.

The authors had devised a novel biphasic scaffold combining hyaluronic acid and atelocallagen for the chondral phase and combining hydroxyapatite and beta-tricalcium phosphate for the osseous phase. Sixty-four osteochondral defects were created in the knee joints of 16 minipigs to evaluate the effectiveness of this scaffold for repairing cartilage in a large animal model. The defects were divided into five groups according to their treatment: filling with a cell/biphasic scaffold composite (Group I, 16 defects); implanting only the biphasic scaffold (Group II, 16 defects); placing the removed osteochondral fragments back into the defect (Group IIIa, 8 defects); autologous chondrocyte implantation (Group IIIb, 8 defects); leaving the defects empty (Group IV, the negative control).

Enhanced differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells into NP-like cells via 3D co-culturing with mechanical stimulation.

This study proposes a three-dimensional co-culturing system of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and nucleus pulposus (NP) cells from New Zealand white male rabbits to differentiate MSCs into NP-like cells. The preferable ratio of MSCs to NP cells and the effects of mechanical stimulation were investigated without biochemical reagents. The preferable ratio was investigated without mechanical stimulation using five groups: Group I (MSC control); Group II (NP cell control); and Groups III, IV, and V, for which the ratios of NP cells to MSCs were 1:1, 1:2, and 2:1, respectively.

Development of a molecular marker specific to a novel CMS line in radish (Raphanus sativus L.).

In this study, we have investigated the cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) of a novel male sterile radish line, designated NWB CMS. The NWB CMS was crossed with 16 fertile breeding lines, and all the progenies were completely male sterile. The degree of male sterility exhibited by NWB CMS is more than Ogura CMS from the Cruciferae family.