Background and Objectives: In advanced β-cell dysfunction, proinsulin is increasingly replacing insulin as major component of the secretion product. It has been speculated that proinsulin has at least the same adipogenic potency than insulin, leading to an increased tendency of lipid tissue formation in patients with late stage β-cell dysfunction. Methods and Results: Mesenchymal stem cells obtained from liposuction material were grown in differentiation media containing insulin (0.01 μmol), proinsulin (0.01 μmol) or insulin+proinsulin (each 0.005 μmol). Cell culture supernatants were taken from these experiments and an untreated control at weeks 1, 2, and 3, and were stored at -80°C until analysis. Cell differentiation was microscopically supervised and adiponectin concentrations were measured as marker for differentiation into mature lipid cells. This experiment was repeated three times. No growth of lipid cells and no change in adiponectin values was observed in the negative control group (after 7/14/12 days: 3.2±0.5/3.3±0.1/4.4±0.5 ng/ml/12 h). A continuous differentiation into mature adipocytes (also confirmed by Red-Oil-staining) and a corresponding increase in adiponectin values was observed in the experiments with insulin (3.6±1.9/5.1±1.4/13.3±1.5 ng/ml/12 h; p<0.05 week 1 vs. week 3) and proinsulin (3.3±1.2/3.5±0.3/12.2±1.2 ng/ml/12 h; p<0.05). Comparable effects were seen with the insulin/proinsulin combination. Conclusions: Proinsulin has the same adipogenic potential than insulin in vitro. Proinsulin has only 10∼20% of the glucose-lowering effect of insulin. It can be speculated that the adipogenic potential of proinsulin may be a large contributor to the increased body weight problems in patients with type 2 diabetes and advanced β-cell dysfunction.
Human mesenchymal stem cells (HMSCs) which are isolated from bone marrow stroma, peripheral blood, dermis, muscle and adipose tissue have the advantage of potential autologous transplantation ability. They can be differentiated into chondrogenic, osteogenic, adipogenic and myogenic lineages. Problems of stem cells from bone marrow are low cell numbers, low isolated volumes, pain, and to some extent ethical concerns. The isolation of mesenchymal stem cells from human adipose tissue was recently identified as an alternative source, since these cells are easy to obtain in big cell numbers. Adipose tissue is derived from embryonic mesoderm and contains a heterogeneous stromal cell population. To achieve lineage-specific differentiation of these cells they have to be cultured in media supplemented with appropriate factors. Inductions of the cells into multiple mesenchymal lineages resulted in the expression of several lineage-specific genes, proteins and specific metabolic activity. In conclusion, the potential benefit of the multi-germline capacity of HMSCs seems to be a promising approach for allogenic cell therapy and human tissue engineering.
Purpose – To describe the development of a novel polyether(meth)acrylate-based resin material class for stereolithography with alterable material characteristics.
Design/methodology/approach – A complete overview of details to composition parameters, the optimization and bandwidth of mechanical and processing parameters is given. Initial biological characterization experiments and future application fields are depicted. Process parameters are studied in a commercial 3D systems Viper stereolithography system, and a new method to determine these parameters is described herein.
Findings – Initial biological characterizations show the non-toxic behavior in a biological environment, caused mainly by the (meth)acrylate-based core components. These photolithographic resins combine an adjustable low Young’s modulus with the advantages of a non-toxic (meth)acrylate-based process material. In contrast to the mostly rigid process materials used today in the rapid prototyping industry, these polymeric formulations are able to fulfill the extended need for a soft engineering material. A short overview of sample applications is given.
Practical implications – These polymeric formulations are able to meet the growing demand for a resin class for rapid manufacturing that covers a bandwidth from softer to stiffer materials.
Originality/value – This paper gives an overview about the novel developed material class for stereolithography and should be therefore of high interest to people with interest in novel rapid manufacturing materials and technology.
Transient up-regulation of P2 receptors influence differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells
(2012)
Adult stem cells, including adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) or ectomesenchymal dental follicle cells (DFCs), attract considerable attention for their potential to differentiate into lineages, which are of major interest in the field of Regenerative Medicine. Purinergic receptors exert a wide range of biological actions in many cell and tissue types through extracellular nucleotides. Little is known about P2 receptors in adult stem cells and changes in their expression levels during differentiation. All known P2 receptors have been investigated, and a variety of P2X and P2Y receptor subtypes were detected in MSCs. Studies investigating intracellular calcium levels on receptor stimulation demonstrated that the found P2 receptors are metabolically active. Interestingly, up- or downregulation of several P2 receptor subtypes at gene and protein level was observed during adipogenic and osteogenic differentiation, and the effect on differentiation was directly influenced by both the application of agonists/antagonists and apyrase-induced nucleotide cleavage. Here, we show for the first time that the combination of several P2 receptors plays a role in the differentiation of adult stem cells. The expression pattern of the P2 receptors, as well as their fate in differentiation, varies in stem cells of mesenchymal origin if compared with stem cells of ectomesenchymal origin. The subtypes P2X6, P2Y4, and P2Y14 seem to be pivotal regulators in MSC commitment, as they are regulated in both adipogenic and osteogenic differentiation of adipose tissue-derived stem cells and DFCs. These findings provide new insights into the differentiation processes and might reveal novel options to influence stem cell fate in future applications.
Here, we present a miR mechanism which is active in the nucleus and is essential for the production of intron included, C-terminal truncated and biologically active proteins, like e.g. Vim3. We exemplified this mechanism by miRs, miR-15a and miR-498, which are overexpressed in clear cell renal carcinoma or oncocytoma. Both miRs directly interact with DNA in an intronic region, leading to transcriptional stop, and therefore repress the full length version of the pre-mRNA, resulting in intron included truncated proteins (Mxi-2 and Vim3). A computational survey shows that this miR:DNA interactions mechanism may be generally involved in regulating the human transcriptome, with putative interaction sites in intronic regions for over 1000 genes. In this work, an entirely new mechanism is revealed how miRs can repress full length protein translation, resulting in C-terminal truncated proteins.
Exposure to microgravity conditions causes cardiovascular deconditioning in astronauts during spaceflight. Until now, no specific drugs are available for countermeasure, since the underlying mechanism is largely unknown. Endothelial cells (ECs) and smooth muscle cells (SMCs) play key roles in various vascular functions, many of which are regulated by purinergic 2 (P2) receptors. However, their function in ECs and SMCs under microgravity conditions is still unclear. In this study, primary ECs and SMCs were isolated from bovine aorta and verified with specific markers. We show for the first time that the P2 receptor expression pattern is altered in ECs and SMCs after 24 h exposure to simulated microgravity using a clinostat. However, conditioned medium compensates this change in specific P2 receptors, for example, P2X7. Notably, P2 receptors such as P2X7 might be the important players during the paracrine interaction. Additionally, ECs and SMCs secreted different cytokines under simulated microgravity, leading into a pathogenic proliferation and migration. In conclusion, our data indicate P2 receptors might be important players responding to gravity changes in ECs and SMCs. Since some artificial P2 receptor ligands are applied as drugs, it is reasonable to assume that they might be promising candidates against cardiovascular deconditioning in the future.
