A modified plastic Petri dish for cell and tissue cultures

Numerical Simulations as Means for Tailoring Electrically Conductive Hydrogels Towards Cartilage Tissue Engineering by Electrical Stimulation

Cartilage regeneration is a clinical challenge. In recent years, hydrogels have emerged as implantable scaffolds in cartilage tissue engineering. Similarly, electrical stimulation has been employed to improve matrix synthesis of cartilage cells, and thus to foster engineering and regeneration of cartilage tissue. The combination of hydrogels and electrical stimulation may pave the way for new clinical treatment of cartilage lesions. To find the optimal electric properties of hydrogels, theoretical considerations and corresponding numerical simulations are needed to identify well-suited initial parameters for experimental studies. We present the theoretical analysis of a hydrogel in a frequently used electrical stimulation device for cartilage regeneration and tissue engineering. By means of equivalent circuits, finite element analysis, and uncertainty quantification, we elucidate the influence of the geometric and dielectric properties of cell-seeded hydrogels on the capacitive-coupling electrical field stimulation. Moreover, we discuss the possibility of cellular organisation inside the hydrogel due to forces generated by the external electric field. The introduced methodology is easily reusable by other researchers and allows to directly develop novel electrical stimulation study designs. Thus, this study paves the way for the design of future experimental studies using electrically conductive hydrogels and electrical stimulation for tissue engineering.

Nucleolar and nuclear RNA synthesis during the cell life cycle in monkey and pig kidney cells in vitro

The incorporation of 5-(3)H-uridine and 5-(3)H-cytidine into nucleolar and nonnucleolar RNA in the nucleus of monkey and pig kidney cells was measured in vitro during the cell life cycle. Time-lapse cinematographic records were made of cells during asynchronous exponential proliferation, in order to identify the temporal position of individual cells in relation to the preceding mitosis. Immediately following cinematography, cells were labeled with uridine-(3)H and cytidine-(3)H for a short period, fixed, and analyzed by radioautography. Since the data permit correlation of the rate of RNA labeling with the position of a cell within the cycle, curves could be constructed describing the rate of RNA synthesis over the average cell cycle. RNA synthesis was absent in early telophase, and rose very abruptly in rate in late telophase and in very early G(1) in both the nucleus and the reconstituting nucleolus. Thereafter, through the G(1) and S periods the rate of nuclear RNA synthesis rose gradually. When we used a 10-min pulse, there was no detectable change in the rate for nucleolar RNA labeling in monkey kidney cells during G(1) or S. When we used a 30-min labeling time, the rate of nucleolar RNA labeling rose gradually in pig kidney cells. With increasing time after mitosis, the data became more variable, which may, in part, be related to the variation in generation times for individual cells.

Culture of synovial cells in vitro. Notes on isolation and propagation

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