No abstract

Recently, bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been paid more attention for cartilage regeneration. This study evaluated the potential of using MSCs seeded in plasmid transforming growth factor beta1 (pTGF-beta1)-activated three-dimensional chitosan/gelatin scaffolds for improving cartilage repair in vivo. Significant cell proliferation and transforming growth factor beta1 protein expression were observed in vitro in pTGFbeta1-activated scaffolds. Transforming growth factor beta1-activated scaffolds showed high collagen type II and aggrecan expression and low collagen type I expression during in vitro cultivation. MSC-based pTGF-beta1-activated scaffolds also exhibited cartilage histology with high secretion of collagen type II in vitro under the stimulation of pTGF-beta1. In rabbits with full-thickness cartilage defects, the implantation of MSC-based pTGF-beta1-activated scaffolds not only significantly promoted chondrogenic differentiation of MSCs and hyalin-like cartilage matrix synthesis, but also remarkably improved the overall repair of rabbit cartilage defects and exhibited favorable tissue integrity at 10 weeks postsurgery. These results suggest that MSC-based localized pTGF-beta1-activated scaffolds have potential applications for in vivo cartilage repair.

An increased level of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) is observed in brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). AGEs and receptor for AGEs (RAGE) play important roles in the pathogenesis of AD. FPS-ZM1 is a high-affinity RAGE-specific blocker that inhibits amyloid-β binding to RAGE, neurological damage and inflammation in the APP(sw/0) transgenic mouse model of AD. FPS-ZM1 is not toxic to mice and can easily cross the blood-brain barrier. In this study, an AGEs-RAGE-activated rat model were established by intrahippocampal injection of AGEs, then these rats were treated with intraperitoneal administration of FPS-ZM1 and the possible neuroprotective effects were investigated. We found that AGEs administration induced an-regulation of Abeta production, inflammation, and oxidative stress, and an increased escape latency of rats in the Morris water maze test, all of these are significantly reduced by FPS-ZM1 treatment. Our results suggest that the AGEs-RAGE pathway is responsible for cognitive deficits, and therefore may be a potential treatment target. FPS-ZM1 might be a novel therapeutic agent to treat AD patients.