Narrow Results

Australian Breakthrough on 3-D Structure of Cancer Cell Protein.

Guidance Mechanism for Brain Stem Cells Discovered.

Synthetic Elastin for Tissue Repair in Humans.

Clue to Cause of Chronic Lung Disease Uncovered.

New Insights into Cause of Stomach Cancer.

Chinese Scientists Develop Salt-resistant Plants.

ED Study Yields Good Results.

CUHK Joins Drug Delivery Study for Posterior Uveitis.

Japanese Researchers Achieve Gene Targeting in Rice.

Device to Detect Tooth Decay in Advance.

Japan to Study Whether Cloned Cows are Safe to Eat.

Researchers Look for Clues to Slow Down Aging.

Malaysian Institute Applies Genetic Engineering to Crops and Fruits.

NZ Develops GM Potatoes.

Breakthrough Technique in Eye Surgery.

Researchers to Develop Biodegradable Heart Stent.

Taiwan Scientists Discover Gastric Cancer Markers.

Iron oxides are naturally occurring compounds, and several methods have been developed for generating iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) with a focus on precisely modulating their size and physicochemical properties. Facile synthesis approaches, narrow size distribution, ease of surface modification, tunable magnetic properties, and size-dependent elimination from blood circulation, make IONPs attractive for use in different biomedical applications. This review describes the use of IONPs for application in tissue repair and regeneration with a focus on neural and musculoskeletal tissues.

High mobility group protein box 1 (HMGB1), a sophisticated danger signal with pleiotropic functions, has been proved to function as a pro-inflammatory cytokine. In the central neural system (CNS), HMGB1 can stimulate microglia, the immune cell in the CNS, to release inflammatory factors and to cause chronic neurodegeneration. The evidence showed that HMGB1 can act as a pro-inflammatory cytokine mainly through its receptors like advanced glycation end product (RAGE), Toll-like 4 (TLR4), and so on. Moreover, HMGB1 contributed to the priming effects of stress-pretreatment and played a key role in neurodegeneration diseases via mediating neuroinflammation. However, the evidence also showed that HMGB1 played a role in tissue repair, with the ability to promote cell migration and proliferation, to induce the differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), and to regenerate spinal cord. These pleiotropic functions of HMGB1 make it possible to play a role from cell death to new life. Depression is a chronic, severe, and often life-threatening disease accompanied with impaired neurogenesis. The evidence showed that neuroinflammation played a key role in the process of depression. Depressive patients often showed a high expression of inflammatory cytokines in the blood and an activation of microglia in the brain. Meanwhile, they also showed a neuron deficit in the brain. Though they lack direct evidence linking HMGB1 with depression, the ability of HMGB1 that can function from neuroinflammation to tissue repair makes HMGB1 a promising therapeutic target of depression.

Human fibrocytes exhibit mixed phenotypic characteristics of haematopoietic stem cells, monocytes and fibroblasts, and originate from a precursor of the monocyte lineage. They constitutively produce chemokines and growth factors that are known to modulate inflammatory reactions or promote angiogenesis and the deposition of extracellular matrix molecules. Upon exposure to transforming growth factor-β₁ and endothelin-1, fibrocytes produce large quantities of extracellular matrix components and acquire a contractile phenotype. Such differentiation of fibrocytes into myofibroblast-like cells occurs at the tissue sites during repair processes and has been found to contribute to wound healing in vivo. Fibrocytes and fibrocyte-derived myofibroblasts are also involved in the pathogenesis of lung disorders characterised by chronic inflammation and extensive remodelling of the bronchial wall, like asthma, or progressive fibrosis with destruction of the pulmonary architecture, like idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. They participate in tumour-induced stromal reactions and may either promote or inhibit the metastatic progression of cancers. Prevention of excessive extracellular matrix deposition and detrimental tissue remodelling in pulmonary diseases may be achieved by inhibiting the accumulation of fibrocytes in the lungs. Moreover, in vitro expanded fibrocytes may serve as vehicles for the delivery of gene constructs to improve ineffective lung repair or be used in anti-cancer cell therapy.

Iron oxides are naturally occurring compounds, and several methods have been developed for generating iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) with a focus on precisely modulating their size and physicochemical properties. Facile synthesis approaches, narrow size distribution, ease of surface modification, tunable magnetic properties, and size-dependent elimination from blood circulation, make IONPs attractive for use in different biomedical applications. This review describes the use of IONPs for application in tissue repair and regeneration with a focus on neural and musculoskeletal tissues.