Application of instant assembly of collagen to bioprint cardiac tissues.

Advancing cardiac tissue engineering requires innovative fabrication techniques, including 3D bioprinting and tissue maturation, to enable the generation of new muscle for repairing or replacing damaged heart tissue. Recent advances in tissue engineering have highlighted the need for rapid, high-resolution bioprinting methods that preserve cell viability and maintain structural fidelity. Traditional collagen-based bioinks gel slowly, limiting their use in bioprinting.

Instant assembly of collagen for tissue engineering and bioprinting.

Engineering functional cellular tissue components holds great promise in regenerative medicine. Collagen I, a key scaffolding material in bodily tissues, presents challenges in controlling its assembly kinetics in a biocompatible manner in vitro, restricting its use as a primary scaffold or adhesive in cellular biofabrication. Here we report a collagen fabrication method termed as tunable rapid assembly of collagenous elements that leverages macromolecular crowding to achieve the instant assembly of unmodified collagen.

Macromolecular crowding-based biofabrication utilizing unmodified extracellular matrix bioinks.

The extracellular matrix (ECM) is the body's natural cell-scaffolding material, and its structure and content are often imitated for applications in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine to promote biocompatibility. One approach toward biomimicking natural ECMs is to utilize decellularized extracellular matrices (dECMs), which involve removing cellular components from native tissues to preserve natural components. Solubilizing dECMs to produce bioinks therefore holds high potential for 3D biofabrication and bioprinting of bioactive scaffolds and tissues.

Viscosity regulates cell spreading and cell-extracellular matrix interactions.

Fluid viscosity and osmolarity are among some of the underappreciated mechanical stimuli that cells can detect. Abnormal changes of multiple fluidic factors such as viscosity and osmolarity have been linked with diseases such as cystic fibrosis, cancer, and coronary heart disease. Changes in viscosity have been recently suggested as a regulator of cell locomotion.

Optimization of Vascularized Intestinal Organoid Model.

Vasculature is crucial for maintaining organ homeostasis and metabolism. Although 3D organoids can mimic organ structures and patterns, they still lack vascular systems, limiting the recapitulation of physiological complexities. Although vascularization of organoids has been demonstrated by mixing Matrigel in fibrin, how the mixed gel niche affects endothelial cells (ECs) and organoids remains unclear.

Instant Assembly of Collagen for Scaffolding, Tissue Engineering, and Bioprinting.

Controllable assembly of cells and tissues offers potential for advancing disease and development modeling and regenerative medicine. The body's natural scaffolding material is the extracellular matrix, composed largely of collagen I. However, challenges in precisely controlling collagen assembly limit collagen's applicability as a primary bioink or glue for biofabrication.

Corrigendum: High follicle-stimulating hormone level associated with risk of rheumatoid arthritis and disease activity.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2022.

Mesenchymal stem cells and their microenvironment.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), coming from a wide range of sources, have multi-directional differentiation ability. MSCs play vital roles in immunomodulation, hematopoiesis and tissue repair. The microenvironment of cells often refers to the intercellular matrix, other cells, cytokines and humoral components.

High Follicle-Stimulating Hormone Level Associated With Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis and Disease Activity.

Background: The prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has significant gender and age difference. The peak age of RA is consistent with the age of menopause, which is accompanied by a sharp increase in serum follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) level. This study aims to identify the FSH levels in female RA patients and the relationship with diseases activity.