Topic Review
Spinal-Cord Injury: Lentiviral-Vectors and Biomaterials
Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating trauma that can cause permanent disability, life-long chronic issues for sufferers and is a big socioeconomic burden. Therapies that target multiple different cellular and molecular mechanisms prove to be a superior approach in attempts at regeneration. Studies indicate that a combination of biomaterials and LVs is more effective than either approach alone. 
  • 435
  • 01 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Spheroid-Based Cell Therapies for Degenerative Disc Disease
Degenerative disc disease, a painful pathology of the intervertebral disc (IVD), often causes disability and reduces quality of life. A long-lasting episode of low back pain (LBP) affects 80% of people at least once in their lifetime. The major cause of LBP is degenerative disc disease (DDD), an age-related pathology of the intervertebral disc (IVD). IVD contains distinct anatomical regions, namely the nucleus pulposus (NP), annulus fibrosus (AF), and cartilaginous endplates, which are all substantially different and unique structurally, mechanically, and biochemically, and present challenges for IVD tissue engineering. Ideally, an engineered construct should closely resemble the ECM architecture of the target tissue and rapidly integrate within a defect. Spheroids are three-dimensional multicellular aggregates with architecture that enables the cells to differentiate and synthesize endogenous ECM, promotes cell-ECM interactions, enhances adhesion, and protects cells from harsh conditions. Spheroids could be applied in the IVD both in scaffold-free and scaffold-based configurations, possibly providing advantages over cell suspensions.
  • 428
  • 14 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Spermatophyte Sesquiterpene Synthases
Sesquiterpenes are important defense and signal molecules for plants to adapt to the environment, cope with stress, and communicate with the outside world, and their evolutionary history is closely related to physiological functions. In this study, the information of plant sesquiterpene synthases (STSs) with identified functions were collected and sorted to form a dataset containing about 500 members. The phylogeny of spermatophyte functional STSs was constructed based on the structural comparative analysis to reveal the sequence–structure–function relationships. We propose the evolutionary history of plant sesquiterpene skeletons, from chain structure to small rings, followed by large rings for the first time and put forward a more detailed function-driven hypothesis. Then, the evolutionary origins and history of spermatophyte STSs are also discussed. In addition, three newly identified STSs CaSTS2, CaSTS3, and CaSTS4 were analyzed in this functional evolutionary system, and their germacrene D products were consistent with the functional prediction. This demonstrates an application of the structure-based phylogeny in predicting STS function. 
  • 550
  • 10 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Smart Responsive Hydrogel Design for Chronic Wound Treatment
Chronic wounds are a major health challenge that require new treatment strategies. Hydrogels are promising drug delivery systems for chronic wound healing because of their biocompatibility, hydration, and flexibility. However, conventional hydrogels cannot adapt to the dynamic and complex wound environment, which involves low pH, high levels of reactive oxygen species, and specific enzyme expression. Therefore, smart responsive hydrogels that can sense and respond to these stimuli are needed. 
  • 218
  • 13 Dec 2023
Topic Review
Small-Diameter Tissue-Engineered Vascular Grafts
In general, arterial bypass grafting in the heart or below the knee requires small-diameter grafts. Thus, shortage of material for such surgeries remains a big challenge because autologous grafts are often not available in certain patient groups such as claudicants, patients with diabetics or vein disease, and in patients requiring reoperations. This has further underscored the need for developing alternative small-diameter vascular grafts. One candidate, small-diameter tissue-engineered vascular grafts (SD-TEVGs), is fabricated using novel techniques and interdisciplinary knowledge including material, engineering, and cell biology. Advantages of using SD-TEVGs as compared to autografts, include noninvasive surgery during preparation of grafts, unlimited availability, and customized dimension.
  • 442
  • 13 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Small Angle Neutron Scattering on Nanostructured Polysaccharide Materials
Polysaccharide materials and biomaterials gain the focus of intense research owing to their great versatility in chemical structures and modification possibilities, as well as their biocompatibility, degradability, and sustainability features.
  • 69
  • 28 Feb 2024
Topic Review
Sex Hormone-Specific Neuroanatomy of Takotsubo Syndrome
TTS(Takotsubo syndrome) was first officially reported in 1991 as a reversible cardiomyopathy that appeared to be precipitated by acute emotional stress. The majority of TTS patients were postmenopausal females and usually developed symptoms similar to those of an acute coronary syndrome. A strong emotional stressor was thought to cause a transient abnormality of LV wall motion in the apical and mid-ventricular portion without obstructive coronary artery disease with ECG changes. TTS was initially called “Takotsubo cardiomyopathy”. Although most TTS cases were described as having been caused by negative emotions, there are cases in which positive emotions, such as joy, triggered TTS. In addition, 10% of TTS patients are male.
  • 393
  • 21 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Sensory Neurons
Four sensory systems (vestibular, lateral line, electroreception, auditory) are unique and project exclusively to the brainstem of vertebrates. All sensory neurons depend on a common set of genes (Eya1, Sox2, Neurog1, Neurod1) that project to a dorsal nucleus and an intermediate nucleus, which differentiate into the vestibular ear, lateral line and electroreception in vertebrates. 
  • 1.1K
  • 23 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Secretome Derived from SHED in Tissue Regeneration
Stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth (SHED) have emerged as an alternative stem cell source for cell therapy and regenerative medicine because they are readily available, pose fewer ethical concerns, and have low immunogenicity and tumourigenicity. SHED offer a number of advantages over other dental stem cells, including a high proliferation rate with the potential to differentiate into multiple developmental lineages. The therapeutic effects of SHED are mediated by multiple mechanisms, including immunomodulation, angiogenesis, neurogenesis, osteogenesis, and adipogenesis. Since SHED are more potentially useful source of stem cells than BM-MSCs and DPSCs in cell therapy, therefore it could be suggested that the secretome derived from SHED could enhance tissue regeneration and repair and hence, considered as a suitable candidate for a cell-free approach in regenerative medicine and dentistry.
  • 233
  • 21 Aug 2023
Topic Review
Scalable Production of Extracellular Vesicles
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are minute vesicles with lipid bilayer membranes. EVs are secreted by cells for intercellular communication. Recently, EVs have received much attention, as they are rich in biological components such as nucleic acids, lipids, and proteins that play essential roles in tissue regeneration and disease modification. In addition, EVs can be developed as vaccines against cancer and infectious diseases, as the vesicle membrane has an abundance of antigenic determinants and virulent factors. EVs for therapeutic applications are typically collected from conditioned media of cultured cells. However, the number of EVs secreted by the cells is limited. Thus, it is critical to devise new strategies for the large-scale production of EVs.
  • 413
  • 29 Jul 2022
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