Mussel-Inspired Biocoating for Improving the Adhesion of Dental Pulp Stem Cells in Dental Pulp Regeneration

A chemically defined, mechanically tunable, and bioactive hyaluronic acid/alginate double-network hydrogel for liver cancer organoid construction

Liver cancer organoids replicate the pathophysiology of primary tumors, making them ideal for drug screening and efficacy evaluation. However, their growth in complex, variable, animal-derived matrices hinders practical application. Here, we designed an easily accessible, chemically defined, biocompatible double-network hydrogel (HADR) using methacrylated hyaluronic acid (HAMA), sodium alginate (SA), methacrylamide dopamine (DMA), and c(RGDFC) for liver cancer organoid culture. By optimizing critical extracellular matrix (ECM) parameters, the HADR hydrogel achieves compatibility with the physiological mechanics of the human liver and fosters the adhesion and proliferation of multiple cell types. In vitro drug efficacy tests showed that HepG2 cell line-derived liver cancer organoids exhibited higher IC50 values than 2D cultures, indicating greater drug resistance. Subcutaneous tumor models in nude mice revealed that HADR hydrogels created a microenvironment for HepG2 cells mirroring the natural tumor ECM, leading to increased tumor volume, denser cell arrangement, and concurrent microvascular development. In vivo drug efficacy evaluations indicated that DOX treatment downregulated Ki-67 and MMP-9 expression, inhibiting HepG2 cell proliferation, invasion, and metastasis. These findings demonstrate the potential of HADR hydrogels for liver cancer organoid culture, offering new strategies for personalized drug screening and efficacy evaluation.

Creating a Microenvironment to Give Wings to Dental Pulp Regeneration-Bioactive Scaffolds

Dental pulp and periapical diseases make patients suffer from acute pain and economic loss. Although root canal therapies, as demonstrated through evidence-based medicine, can relieve symptoms and are commonly employed by dentists, it is still difficult to fully restore a dental pulp's nutrition, sensory, and immune-regulation functions. In recent years, researchers have made significant progress in tissue engineering to regenerate dental pulp in a desired microenvironment. With breakthroughs in regenerative medicine and material science, bioactive scaffolds play a pivotal role in creating a suitable microenvironment for cell survival, proliferation, and differentiation, following dental restoration and regeneration. This article focuses on current challenges and novel perspectives about bioactive scaffolds in creating a microenvironment to promote dental pulp regeneration. We hope our readers will gain a deeper understanding and new inspiration of dental pulp regeneration through our summary.

Hyaluronic acid based next generation bioink for 3D bioprinting of human stem cell derived corneal stromal model with innervation

Corneal transplantation remains gold standard for the treatment of severe cornea diseases, however, scarcity of donor cornea is a serious bottleneck. 3D bioprinting holds tremendous potential for cornea tissue engineering (TE). One of the key technological challenges is to design bioink compositions with ideal printability and cytocompatibility. Photo-crosslinking and ionic crosslinking are often used for the stabilization of 3D bioprinted structures, which can possess limitations on biological functionality of the printed cells. Here, we developed a hyaluronic acid-based dopamine containing bioink using hydrazone crosslinking chemistry for the 3D bioprinting of corneal equivalents. First, the shear thinning property, viscosity, and mechanical stability of the bioink were optimized before extrusion-based 3D bioprinting for the shape fidelity and self-healing property characterizations. Subsequently, human adipose stem cells (hASCs) and hASC-derived corneal stromal keratocytes were used for bioprinting corneal stroma structures and their cell viability, proliferation, microstructure and expression of key proteins (lumican, vimentin, connexin 43,α-smooth muscle actin) were evaluated. Moreover, 3D bioprinted stromal structures were implanted intoex vivoporcine cornea to explore tissue integration. Finally, human pluripotent stem cell derived neurons (hPSC-neurons), were 3D bioprinted to the periphery of the corneal structures to analyze innervation. The bioink showed excellent shear thinning property, viscosity, printability, shape fidelity and self-healing properties with high cytocompatibility. Cells in the printed structures displayed good tissue formation and 3D bioprinted cornea structures demonstrated excellentex vivointegration to host tissue as well asin vitroinnervation. The developed bioink and the printed cornea stromal equivalents hold great potential for cornea TE applications.

Characterization of a Stemness-Optimized Purification Method for Human Dental-Pulp Stem Cells: An Approach to Standardization

Human dental pulp stem cells (hDPSCs) are promising for oral/craniofacial regeneration, but their purification and characterization is not yet standardized. hDPSCs from three donors were purified by magnetic activated cell sorting (MACS)-assisted STRO-1-positive cell enrichment (+), colony derivation (c), or a combination of both (c/+). Immunophenotype, clonogenicity, stemness marker expression, senescence, and proliferation were analyzed. Multilineage differentiation was assessed by qPCR, immunohistochemistry, and extracellular matrix mineralization. To confirm the credibility of the results, repeated measures analysis and post hoc p-value adjustment were applied. All hDPSC fractions expressed STRO-1 and were similar for several surface markers, while their clonogenicity and expression of CD10/44/105/146, and 166 varied with the purification method. (+) cells proliferated significantly faster than (c/+), while (c) showed the highest increase in metabolic activity. Colony formation was most efficient in (+) cells, which also exhibited the lowest cellular senescence. All hDPSCs produced mineralized extracellular matrix. Regarding osteogenic induction, (c/+) revealed a significant increase in mRNA expression of COL5A1 and COL6A1, while osteogenic marker genes were detected at varying levels. (c/+) were the only population missing BDNF gene transcription increase during neurogenic induction. All hDPSCs were able to differentiate into chondrocytes. In summary, the three hDPSCs populations showed differences in phenotype, stemness, proliferation, and differentiation capacity. The data suggest that STRO-1-positive cell enrichment is the optimal choice for hDPSCs purification to maintain hDPSCs stemness. Furthermore, an (immuno) phenotypic characterization is the minimum requirement for quality control in hDPSCs studies.

Thermoplasmonic Regulation of the Mitochondrial Metabolic State for Promoting Directed Differentiation of Dental Pulp Stem Cells

Regulating stem cell differentiation in a controllable way is significant for regeneration of tissues. Herein, we report a simple and highly efficient method for accelerating the stem cell differentiation of dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) based on the synergy of the electromagnetic field and the photothermal (thermoplasmonic) effect of plasmonic nanoparticles. By simple laser irradiation at 50 mW/cm² (10 min per day, totally for 5 days), the thermoplasmonic effect of Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) can effectively regulate mitochondrial metabolism to induce the increase of mitochondrial membrane potential and further drive energy increase during the DPSC differentiation process. The proposed method can specifically regulate DPSCs' cell differentiation toward odontoblasts, with the differentiation time reduced to only 5 days. Simultaneously, the molecular profiling change of mitochondria within DPSCs during the cell differentiation process is revealed by in situ surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy. It clearly demonstrates that the expression of hydroxyproline and glutamate gradually increases with prolonging of the differentiation days. The developed method is simple, robust, and rapid for stem cell differentiation of DPSCs, which would be beneficial to tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.