( y the cells other structures and prote...)MIT creates 3-D scaffold for growing stem cells

y the cells, other structures and proteins around them. A cell's normal environment is a complex network of tiny fibers, gaps and pores through which oxygen, hormones and nutrients are delivered and waste products filtered away. Cells move within their natural environments in response to chemical signals or other stimuli.

Researchers are aware that cells on flat surfaces have skewed metabolisms, gene expression and growing patterns. But the only choices have been glass labware and a product called Matrigel, a gelatinous protein mixture secreted by mouse tumor cells. While Matrigel does resemble a complex extracellular environment, it also contains growth factors and unknown proteins that limit its desirability for experiments requiring precise conditions.

"Synthetic biopolymer microfiber scaffolds have been studied for more than 30 years to mimic a living 3D microenvironment, but concerns exist about their degradation products and chemicals," the authors wrote in the paper.

Other synthetic polymer biomaterials are simply too big. Getting cells to grow on them is like forcing spiders to build webs on skyscraper girders. Zhang's nanofiber scaffold, around 1,000 times smaller than the existing systems, is much closer in size to the extracellular matrices that living cells manufacture themselves.

Adding motifs

With the addition of defined amino acid fragments called active motifs, the scaffold can be fashioned to coax stem cells to behave in certain desirable ways-such as differentiating into needed body tissues or migrating toward bone marrow and other natural destinations.

"What makes these designer scaffolds particularly interesting is that cells survive longer and differentiate better without additional soluble growth factors," Zhang said. "This suggests that extracellular microenvironments may play a more important role for cell survival and for carrying out cell functions than previously thought."

'"/>

Source:Public Library of Science


Page: 1 2 3
Related biology news :

1. Deficiency of growth hormone and IGF-1 reduces cancer and kidney disease, but creates other problems
2. NIH creates nationwide network of molecular libraries screening centers
3. Purdue creates new low-cost system to detect bacteria
4. Brazil creates buffer zone around coral reefs off Atlantic coast
5. Hopkins scientists show hallucinogen in mushrooms creates universal mystical experience
6. Climate change creates dramatic decline in red-winged black bird population
7. How badger culling creates conditions for spread of bovine TB
8. Tiny scaffolding allows stem cells to become working fat cells
9. Bioactive cement scaffold may improve bone grafts
10. Microscopic scaffolding offers a simple solution to treating skin injuries
11. Bedsores and bald hides: Novel roles revealed for a scaffolding protein