Stem cell-based regenerative neurology is an emerging concept for treatment of diseases of central nervous system. Among variety of proposed procedures, one of the most promising is refilling of cystic cavities of injured brain parenchyma with artificial neural tissue. Recent studies revealed that after allogenic transplantation in rodents these tissue-engineered entities were shown efficient in repair of hypoxic/ischemic brain injury. Human umbilical cord blood (HUCB) was recognized to be an efficient and noncontroversial source of neural stem cells (NSC). The main purpose of this study was to generate HUCB-derived neural artificial tissue and investigate their functional properties. Neural organoids formed on human-originated biodegradable scaffolds within 3 weeks and resembled niche structure where immature stem cells (Oct4+ and Sox2+) and proliferating neuroblasts (Nestin+, GFAP+, and Ki67+) were present. Such aggregates were placed on multi-electrode chips and differentiated toward mature neurons (TUJ1+ and MAP2+). These three-dimensional aggregates in contrast to two-dimensional cultures formed functional circuits and generated spontaneous field/action potentials. Our results indicate that three-dimensional environment facilitates maturation of HUCB-derived NSC what should be considered regarding regenerative medicine application.

Keratin-associated protein micromaterials for medical and cosmetic applications RAPID COMMUNICATION Summary-Procedure of preparation of keratin associated protein micromaterials from hair, wool and bristle like natural sources has been developed. Procedure involves a combination of chemical activation and enzymatic digestion of natural substrates. Keratin associated proteins could be applied as microscaffolds in medicine and cosmetics. Key words: keratin associated protein micromaterials, sheep wool, pig bristle, human hair. MIKROMATERIA£Y BIA£EK WSPÓ£WYSTÊPUJ¥CYCH Z KERATYN¥ DO ZASTOSOWAÑ ME-DYCZNYCH I KOSMETYCZNYCH Streszczenie-Opracowano sposób otrzymywania mikromateria³u bia³ek wspó³wystêpuj¹cych z ke-ratyn¹ z naturalnego surowca w³osów, we³ny i szczeciny. Sposób otrzymywania polega na po³¹czeniu chemicznej aktywacji i enzymatycznego trawienia naturalnych substratów. Otrzymane preparaty bia-³ek wspó³wystêpuj¹cych z keratyn¹ mog¹ znaleŸae zastosowanie jako mikroszkieletowy materia³ w medycynie i kosmetyce. S³owa kluczowe: mikromateria³y bia³ek wspó³wystêpuj¹cych z keratyn¹, we³na owcza, szczecina oewini, w³os ludzki.

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KATARZYNA KURZEPA 1) , KRZYSZTOF RÓ¯YCKI 1) , MARTA BOCHYÑSKA 2) , MAREK KONOP 2) , ZOFIA URBANCZYK-LIPKOWSKA 3) , ANDRZEJ W. LIPKOWSKI 2), 4), *) Molecular scaffolds for three-dimensional cell and tissue culturesSummary -Regenerative medicine and cell therapy are the most growing fields of medical sciences in the last decade. The successes in development of scaffolds for three-dimensional cells and tissue breeding are one of the key factors of this progress. A broad spectrum of synthetic polymers, natural biopolymers and their combinations are available for testing and applications. Growing knowledge of biological and physicochemical properties of various (bio-) polymers allow tailoring macromolecules to particular medical application.

A b s t r a c t Oral tolerance is the natural occurring phenomenon of a decreased immune response to previously fed antigens, which prevents induction of a response to dietary antigens. One of the mechanisms is deletion of T lym-