Method to improve blood supply to engineered replacement tissues

Reported in Bioresearch Open Access

2013-07-09

(Press-News.org) New Rochelle, NY -- Next-generation hydrogels can form synthetic scaffolds to support the formation of replacement tissues and organs in the emerging area of regenerative medicine. Embedding peptides into the hydrogels stimulates the growth of essential microvascular networks to ensure a good blood supply. Novel, cutting-edge technology in which hydrogels functionalized with laminin-derived peptides were transplanted in a mouse cornea and were shown to support cell growth and blood vessel formation is described in an article in BioResearch Open Access, a peer-reviewed open access journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the BioResarch Open Access website.

Saniya Ali and coauthors from Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, and Duke University, Durham, NC, created a biodegradable hydrogel-based scaffold containing laminins. These peptides are key components of cells' extracellular matrix and play a critical role in the attachment, movement, and organization of endothelial cells, which form the lining of tubules such as blood vessels. Stimulating and controlling the formation and growth of these tubule-like, cell-lined structures is essential for ensuring sufficient blood supply to support large complex tissues or organs. The authors present their work and the results of animal studies in the article "Immobilization of Cell-Adhesive Laminin Peptides in Degradable PEGDA Hydrogels Influences Endothelial Cell Tubulogenesis."

"Enhancing vascularization in synthetic scaffolds is essential to support the formation of blood vessels in engineered tissues," says BioResearch Open Access Editor Jane Taylor, PhD, MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Scotland. "The work in this study demonstrates that laminin-derived peptide sequences immobilized in synthetic scaffolds can be used to regulate the formation of microvasculature in tissue-engineered constructs."

INFORMATION:

About the Journal

BioResearch Open Access is a bimonthly peer-reviewed open access journal led by Editor-in-Chief Robert Lanza, MD, Chief Scientific Officer, Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. and Editor Jane Taylor, PhD. The Journal provides a new rapid-publication forum for a broad range of scientific topics including molecular and cellular biology, tissue engineering and biomaterials, bioengineering, regenerative medicine, stem cells, gene therapy, systems biology, genetics, biochemistry, virology, microbiology, and neuroscience. All articles are published within 4 weeks of acceptance and are fully open access and posted on PubMedCentral. All journal content is available on the BioResarch Open Access website.

About the Publisher

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including, DNA and Cell Biology, Tissue Engineering, Stem Cells and Development, Human Gene Therapy, and AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 70 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

140 Huguenot St., New Rochelle, NY 10801-5215
http://www.liebertpub.com
Phone: (914) 740-2100
(800) M-LIEBERT
Fax: (914) 740-2101

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Wildfires may contribute more to global warming than previously predicted

2013-07-09

LOS ALAMOS, N.M., July 9, 2013—Wildfires produce a witch's brew of carbon-containing particles, as anyone downwind of a forest fire can attest. A range of fine carbonaceous particles rising high into the air significantly degrade air quality, damaging human and wildlife health, and interacting with sunlight to affect climate. But measurements taken during the 2011 Las Conchas fire near Los Alamos National Laboratory show that the actual carbon-containing particles emitted by fires are very different than those used in current computer models, providing the potential for ...

Robotic ultrasound gives surgeon more direct control in mapping and removing kidney cancers

2013-07-09

DETROIT – While the use of ultrasound to identify tumors during kidney cancer surgery is gaining acceptance, a research team at Henry Ford Hospital has successfully taken it a step further by showing an added benefit when the procedure is done robotically. Simply put, the kidney surgeon who performs the ultrasound robotically has direct control over the painstaking procedure instead of having to rely on an assistant for part of the task. The researchers compared the robotic ultrasound probe to the same procedure using a laparoscopic ultrasound probe, which requires an ...

Promise and caution shown in ongoing research into stem cell treatment of strokes

2013-07-09

DETROIT – While stem-cell therapy offers great promise for the treatment of stroke, much research remains to be done to show its long-term effectiveness and to understand the potential for dangerous side effects. These are the conclusions drawn by Henry Ford Hospital neurologists Jing Zhang, M.D., Ph.D., and Michael Chopp, Ph.D., scientific director of the Henry Ford Hospital Neuroscience Institute, in a review of their own and other current research into the next-generation treatment of one of the leading causes of death and disability around the world. The article has ...

July/August 2013 Annals of Family Medicine tip sheet

2013-07-09

The Need for Discussion About Prostate Cancer Screening Choices, Optimizing Shared Decision Making Three research studies and an accompanying editorial address the importance of shared decision making around prostate cancer screening. Although prostate cancer is among the most common cancers among men in the United States, the value of screening for prostate cancer by measuring prostate-specific antigen levels remains highly controversial because screening can lead to invasive procedures and treatments that in turn can cause substantial harm. Because such harms may outweigh ...

Fixed payments not a barrier to quality of care in HMOs, study finds

2013-07-09

Ever since the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, the number of enrollees in Medicare Advantage, Medicare's managed care program, has jumped from 5.3 million to 14.4 million in 2013. While most individuals in Medicare opt for the traditional, fee-for-service benefit, many more are enrolling in HMOs and other managed care options. This dynamic heightens the importance of a question health care professionals and policymakers have been asking for many years: Does the system of fixed reimbursement inherent to HMOs and other forms of health ...

Annals of Internal Medicine tip Sheet for 9 July 2013

2013-07-09

1. Task force finds insufficient evidence to recommend for or against screening for primary open-angle glaucoma The United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) found insufficient evidence to assess the balance of benefits and harms of screening for primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) in adults. Glaucoma is an acquired degeneration of the optic nerve that is the second most common cause of blindness worldwide. Open-angle is the most common type of glaucoma where an increase in pressure on the optic nerve occurs slowly over time. The goal of potential screening ...

Medicaid programs vary in coverage of preventive care, report says

2013-07-09

WASHINGTON, DC—Existing Medicaid beneficiaries have largely been left out of the health reform movement when it comes to preventive services that can ward off cancer, heart disease and other potentially deadly diseases, according to a new study by researchers at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS). The study, which appears in the July issue of Health Affairs, notes that under the Affordable Care Act most private insurance plans, Medicare and Medicaid expansion programs are required by law to cover a full range of crucial ...

Melody modulates choir members' heart rate

2013-07-09

When people sing in a choir their heart beats are synchronised, so that the pulse of choir members tends to increase and decrease in unison. This has been shown by a study from the Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg that examined the health effects for choir members. In the research project "Kroppens Partitur" (The Body's Musical Score), researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy are studying how music, in purely biological terms, affects our body and our health. The object is to find new forms where music may be used for medical purposes, primarily within rehabilitation ...

Penn study sheds light on why low-income patients prefer hospital care to a doctor's office

2013-07-09

Philadelphia -- Patients with low socioeconomic status use emergency and hospital care more often than primary care because they believe hospital care is more affordable and convenient, and of better quality than care provided by primary care physicians, according to the results of a new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The results of the study, appearing in the July issue of Health Affairs (and featured on its cover), have significant implications for policy initiatives such as the Affordable Care Act that seek ...

Denormalizing smoking: Making the case for banning cigarettes in parks and on beaches

2013-07-09

Many state and local governments have banned smoking in parks and on beaches on the basis that passive smoke is a risk for non-smokers, cigarette butts pollute the environment, and seeing people smoke poses a long-term risk to children. In the paper "Banning Smoking In Parks and on Beaches: Science, Policy, and the Politics of Denormalization," published in the July issue of the journal Health Affairs, researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health analyzed the evidence for these claims and found them to be far from definitive and, in some cases, weak. ...

Method to improve blood supply to engineered replacement tissues

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: