Human resource development contributes to the creation of outstanding regenerative medicine products

Human resources required in the field of regenerative medicine: A follow-up of the Japanese survey in 2015

In 2015, we conducted a survey of the corporate members of FIRM on the human resources and training required in the field of regenerative cell therapies and reported the results in this journal. After that, industrialization of regenerative medicine has progressed and some cell products have been approved, and infrastructures, such as laws and educational systems, have been improved. To capture the changing demands for human resources in response to the shift in social circumstances, we conducted another survey. Consequently, now, there is an increasing demand for highly specialized skills and knowledge in the field of regenerative medicine. Furthermore, it was found that QA/QC managers and specialists of pharmaceutical affairs are strongly demanded, rather than technicians of cell culture. In addition, it became evident that there are still relatively few companies that have established their own internal education systems, and, in most cases, employees are trained by senior stuff. The establishment of efficient education systems in public institutions and academic societies is desired.

Collagen-Based Materials Modified by Phenolic Acids-A Review

Collagen-based biomaterials constitute one of the most widely studied types of materials for biomedical applications. Low thermal and mechanical parameters are the main disadvantages of such structures. Moreover, they present low stability in the case of degradation by collagenase. To improve the properties of collagen-based materials, different types of cross-linkers have been researched. In recent years, phenolic acids have been studied as collagen modifiers. Mainly, tannic acid has been tested for collagen modification as it interacts with a polymeric chain by strong hydrogen bonds. When compared to pure collagen, such complexes show both antimicrobial activity and improved physicochemical properties. Less research reporting on other phenolic acids has been published. This review is a summary of the present knowledge about phenolic acids (e.g., tannic, ferulic, gallic, and caffeic acid) application as collagen cross-linkers. The studies concerning collagen-based materials with phenolic acids are summarized and discussed.

Comparative study of mesenchymal stem cells from rat bone marrow and adipose tissue

Several therapeutic products based on mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been translated into clinical applications. MSCs should undergo in vitro culture before a sufficient quantity can be achieved. Hence, both expansion kinetics and the biological characteristics of derived cells from primary culture are pertinent to their applications. In the present study, MSCs were isolated from rat bone marrow and adipose tissue (designated as bMSCs and aMSCs, respectively) and cells were comparatively analyzed regarding cell morphology, proliferation, colony formation, differentiation potential, and immunophenotype following the long-term subculture. No apparent differences could be noticed concerning the morphology between bMSCs and aMSCs. The long-term subculture made both types of cells smaller, weakened their colony-forming ability, and stimulated the proliferation rate. However, bMSCs demonstrated better proliferation and colony-forming ability than aMSCs. No significant difference was observed about the expression of some immunophenotypes (i.e. CD29+/CD90+/CD34-/CD45-) regardless of cell types or population doublings. Notably, bMSCs, but not aMSCs, maintained the differentiation potential well after the long-term subculture. The present study demonstrates that MSCs derived from different tissues can be well expanded for the long term, although cells display gradually declined self-renewal and differentiation potentials to different extents depending on the tissue origins.