Periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs), a new population of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), have been isolated from the periodontal ligament (PDL). The capacity of multipotency and self-renewal makes them an excellent cell source for bone regeneration and repair. However, their bone-regeneration ability could be awakened in inflammatory microenvironments, which may be the result of changes in their differentiation potential. Recently, genetic evidences has shown that the Wnt pathway plays an important role in bone homeostasis. In this study we have determined the specific role of b-catenin in osteogenic differentiation of PDLSCs obtained from inflammatory microenvironments (P-PDLSCs). The inflammatory microenvironment, while inhibiting osteogenic differentiation potential, promotes proliferation of MSCs. A higher the level of b-catenin in P-PDLSCs than in H-PDLSCs (PDLSCs obtained from a healthy microenvironment) resulted in the same disparity in canonical Wnt signaling pathway activation between each cell type. Here we show that activation of bcatenin suppresses the noncanonical Wnt/Ca 2þ pathway, leading to increased proliferation but reduced osteogenic differentiation of PPDLSCs. Downregulation of the levels of b-catenin by treatment with dickkopf-1 (DKK-1) leads to activation of the noncanonical Wnt/ Ca 2þ pathway, which, in turn, results in the promotion of osteogenic differentiation in P-PDLSCs. Interestingly, b-catenin can affect both the canonical Wnt/b-catenin pathway and the noncanonical Wnt/Ca 2þ pathway. Our data indicate that b-catenin plays a central role in regulating osteogenic differentiation of MSCs in inflammatory microenvironments. Given the important role of Wnt signaling in osteogenic differentiation, it is possible that agents that can modify this pathway may be of value in bone regeneration by MSCs in chronic inflammatory microenvironments. ß

The immunologic response toward chronic inflammation or bone regeneration via the accumulation of M1 or M2 macrophages after injury could determine the fate of biomaterial. Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUCMSCs) have a pivotal immunomodulatory property on directing macrophage behaviors. Herein, for the first time, 3D‐printed poly(lactide‐co‐glycolide) (PLGA) scaffolds modified with hUCMSC‐derived extracellular matrix (PLGA‐ECM) are prepared by a facile tissue engineering technique with physical decellularization and 2.44 ± 0.29 mg cm−3 proteins immobilized on the PLGA‐ECM contain multiple soluble cytokines with a sustainable release profile. The PLGA‐ECM not only attenuates the foreign body response, but also improves bone regeneration by increasing the accumulation of M2 macrophages in an improved heterotopic transplantation model of SCID mice. Furthermore, the PLGA‐ECM scaffolds with the knockdown of transforming growth factor‐β‐induced protein (TGFβI/βig‐H3) demonstrate that M2 macrophage accumulation improved by the PLGA‐ECM could be attributed to increasing the migration of M2 macrophages and the repolarization of M1 macrophages to M2 phenotype, which are mediated by multiple integrin signaling pathways involving in integrin β7, integrin α9, and integrin β1 in a TGFβI‐dependent manner. This study presents an effective surface modification strategy of polymeric scaffolds to initiate tissue regeneration and combat inflammatory response by increasing M2 macrophage accumulation.

Recently, extracellular matrix-based tissue-engineered bone is a promising approach to repairing bone defects, and the seed cells are mostly mesenchymal stem cells. However, bone remodelling is a complex biological process, in which osteoclasts perform bone resorption and osteoblasts dominate bone formation. The interaction and coupling of these two kinds of cells is the key to bone repair. Therefore, the extracellular matrix secreted by the mesenchymal stem cells alone cannot mimic a complex bone regeneration microenvironment, and the addition of extracellular matrix by preosteoclasts may contribute as an effective strategy for bone regeneration. Here, we established the mesenchymal stem cell/preosteoclast extracellular matrix -based tissue-engineered bones and demonstrated that engineered-scaffolds based on mesenchymal stem cell/ preosteoclast extracellular matrix significantly enhanced osteogenesis in a 3 mm rat femur defect model compared with mesenchymal stem cell alone. The bioactive proteins released from the mesenchymal stem cell/ preosteoclast extracellular matrix based tissue-engineered bones also promoted the migration, adhesion, and osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells in vitro. As for the mechanisms, the iTRAQ-labeled mass spectrometry was performed, and 608 differentially expressed proteins were found, including the IGFBP5 and CXCL12. Through in vitro studies, we proved that CXCL12 and IGFBP5 proteins, mainly released from the preosteoclasts, contributed to mesenchymal stem cells migration and osteogenic differentiation, respectively. Overall, our research, for the first time, introduce pre-osteoclast into the tissue engineering of bone and optimize the strategy of constructing extracellular matrix–based tissue-engineered bone using different cells to simulate the natural bone regeneration environment, which provides new sight for bone tissue engineering.

No abstract

[reaction: see text] Stereospecific cyclopropanation of alkenylboronic esters of pinacol followed by in situ treatment with excess KHF(2) afforded the corresponding potassium cyclopropyl trifluoroborates in high yields, which then underwent Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reactions with aryl bromides to give cyclopropyl-substituted arenes in good yields with retention of configuration. This promises to be a useful method for the synthesis of enantiomerically pure cyclopropanes.