The influence of collagen film nanostructure on pulmonary stem cells and collagen-stromal cell interactions.

We have recently identified a rare subpopulation of lung colony cells with the characteristics of pulmonary stem cells, and discovered that stem cell colonies grew preferentially on type I collagen films in a serum-free medium. In order to further optimize culture conditions and determine stem cell growth in relation to microenvironments (including the stroma, medium and nanostructures of type I collagen films), both primary and pre-sorted stem cells were cultured on the type I collagen films with controllable degree of polymerization and film thickness, as confirmed by an atomic force microscope and surface profiler. We found that in a primary culture, the spreading of stromal cells is greatly restrained and both the size and number of colonies are significantly reduced on highly polymerized collagen films.

Epinecidin-1, an antimicrobial peptide from fish (Epinephelus coioides) which has an antitumor effect like lytic peptides in human fibrosarcoma cells.

Epinecidin-1, a synthetic 21-mer antimicrobial peptide originally identified from grouper (Epinephelus coioides), specifically exhibited high antimicrobial activities against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. In the current study we report on the in vitro cytotoxicity of the peptide, an important factor before it can be considered for further applications in cancer therapy. The cytotoxicity of epinecidin-1 was investigated against several cancer cells (A549, HA59T/VGH, HeLa, HepG2, HT1080, RAW264.