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Song G, Moon J, Kim J, Lee G. Development of Quasi-Passive Back-Support Exoskeleton with Compact Variable Gravity Compensation Module and Bio-Inspired Hip Joint Mechanism. Biomimetics (Basel) 2024; 9:173. [PMID: 38534859 DOI: 10.3390/biomimetics9030173] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2024] [Revised: 03/02/2024] [Accepted: 03/11/2024] [Indexed: 03/28/2024] Open
Abstract
The back support exoskeletons have garnered significant attention to alleviate musculoskeletal injuries, prevalent in industrial settings. In this paper, we propose AeBS, a quasi-passive back-support exoskeleton developed to provide variable assistive torque across the entire range of hip joint motion, for tasks with frequent load changes. AeBS can adjust the assistive torque levels while minimizing energy for the torque variation without constraining the range of motion of the hip joint. To match the requisite assistance levels for back support, a compact variable gravity compensation module with reinforced elastic elements is applied to AeBS. Additionally, we devised a bio-inspired hip joint mechanism that mimics the configuration of the human hip axis to ensure the free body motion of the wearer, significantly affecting assistive torque transmission and wearing comfort. Benchtop testing showed that AeBS has a variable assistive torque range of 5.81 Nm (ranging from 1.23 to 7.04 Nm) across a targeted hip flexion range of 135°. Furthermore, a questionnaire survey revealed that the bio-inspired hip joint mechanism effectively facilitates the transmission of the intended assistive torque while enhancing wearer comfort.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gijoon Song
- School of Mechanical Engineering, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 06974, Republic of Korea
| | - Junyoung Moon
- School of Mechanical Engineering, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 06974, Republic of Korea
| | - Jehyeok Kim
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Université Laval, Québec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada
| | - Giuk Lee
- School of Mechanical Engineering, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 06974, Republic of Korea
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Jang YN, Lee JO, Lee JM, Park AY, Kim YJ, Kim SY, Seok J, Yoo KH, Kim BJ. Exosomes derived from human dermal fibroblasts (HDFn-Ex) alleviate DNCB-induced atopic dermatitis (AD) via PPARα. Exp Dermatol 2024; 33:e14970. [PMID: 37975541 DOI: 10.1111/exd.14970] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2023] [Revised: 07/30/2023] [Accepted: 09/04/2023] [Indexed: 11/19/2023]
Abstract
Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease. Skin barrier dysfunction is the initial step in the development of AD. Recently, exosomes have been considered as potential cell-free medicine for skin defects such as aging, psoriasis and wounds. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of human dermal fibroblast-neonatal-derived exosome (HDFn-Ex) on AD. HDFn-Ex increased the expression of peroxisome proliferator activated receptor α (PPARα) and alleviated the 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (DNCB)-mediated downregulation of filaggrin, involucrin, loricrin, hyaluronic acid synthase 1 (HAS1) and HAS2 in human keratinocyte HaCaT cells. However, these effects were inhibited by the PPARα antagonist GW6471. In the artificial skin model, HDFn-Ex significantly inhibited DNCB-induced epidermal hyperplasia and the decrease in filaggrin and HAS1 levels via a PPARα. In the DNCB-induced AD-like mouse model, HDFn-Ex administration reduced epidermis thickening and mast cell infiltration into the dermis compared to DNCB treatment. Moreover, the decreases in PPARα, filaggrin and HAS1 expression, as well as the increases in IgE and IL4 levels induced by DNCB treatment were reversed by HDFn-Ex. These effects were blocked by pre-treatment with GW6471. Furthermore, HDFn-Ex exhibited an anti-inflammatory effect by inhibiting the DNCB-induced increases in IκBα phosphorylation and TNF-α expression. Collectively, HDFn-Ex exhibited a protective effect on AD. Notably, these effects were regulated by PPARα. Based on our results, we suggest that HDFn-Ex is a potential candidate for treating AD by recovering skin barrier dysfunction and exhibiting anti-inflammatory activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- You Na Jang
- Department of Medicine, Graduate School, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Jung Ok Lee
- Department of Medicine, Graduate School, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Jung Min Lee
- Department of Medicine, Graduate School, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, South Korea
| | - A Yeon Park
- Department of Medicine, Graduate School, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, South Korea
- Department of Dermatology, Chung-Ang University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Yu Jin Kim
- Department of Medicine, Graduate School, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, South Korea
- Department of Dermatology, Chung-Ang University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Su Young Kim
- Department of Medicine, Graduate School, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, South Korea
- Department of Dermatology, Chung-Ang University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Joon Seok
- Department of Medicine, Graduate School, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, South Korea
- Department of Dermatology, Chung-Ang University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Kwang Ho Yoo
- Department of Dermatology, Chung-Ang University Gwang-Myeong Hospital, Chung-Ang University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Beom Joon Kim
- Department of Medicine, Graduate School, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, South Korea
- Department of Dermatology, Chung-Ang University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
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Eom YS, Park JH, Kim TH. Recent Advances in Stem Cell Differentiation Control Using Drug Delivery Systems Based on Porous Functional Materials. J Funct Biomater 2023; 14:483. [PMID: 37754897 PMCID: PMC10532449 DOI: 10.3390/jfb14090483] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2023] [Revised: 09/14/2023] [Accepted: 09/18/2023] [Indexed: 09/28/2023] Open
Abstract
The unique characteristics of stem cells, which include self-renewal and differentiation into specific cell types, have paved the way for the development of various biomedical applications such as stem cell therapy, disease modelling, and drug screening. The establishment of effective stem cell differentiation techniques is essential for the effective application of stem cells for various purposes. Ongoing research has sought to induce stem cell differentiation using diverse differentiation factors, including chemicals, proteins, and integrin expression. These differentiation factors play a pivotal role in a variety of applications. However, it is equally essential to acknowledge the potential hazards of uncontrolled differentiation. For example, uncontrolled differentiation can give rise to undesirable consequences, including cancerous mutations and stem cell death. Therefore, the development of innovative methods to control stem cell differentiation is crucial. In this review, we discuss recent research cases that have effectively utilised porous functional material-based drug delivery systems to regulate stem cell differentiation. Due to their unique substrate properties, drug delivery systems based on porous functional materials effectively induce stem cell differentiation through the steady release of differentiation factors. These ground-breaking techniques hold considerable promise for guiding and controlling the fate of stem cells for a wide range of biomedical applications, including stem cell therapy, disease modelling, and drug screening.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Tae-Hyung Kim
- School of Integrative Engineering, Chung-Ang University, 84 Heukseuk-ro, Dongjak-gu, Seoul 06974, Republic of Korea; (Y.-S.E.); (J.-H.P.)
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An J, Jang S, Kwon J, Jin K, Kim Y. Saliency guided data augmentation strategy for maximally utilizing an object's visual information. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0274767. [PMID: 36227912 PMCID: PMC9560504 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0274767] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2022] [Accepted: 09/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Among the various types of data augmentation strategies, the mixup-based approach has been particularly studied. However, in existing mixup-based approaches, object loss and label mismatching can occur if random patches are utilized when constructing augmented images, and additionally, patches that do not contain objects might be included, which degrades performance. In this paper, we propose a novel augmentation method that mixes patches in a non-overlapping manner after they are extracted from the salient regions in an image. The suggested method can make effective use of object characteristics, because the constructed image consists only of visually important regions and is robust to noise. Since the patches do not occlude each other, the semantically meaningful information in the salient regions can be fully utilized. Additionally, our method is more robust to adversarial attack than the conventional augmentation method. In the experimental results, when Wide ResNet was trained on the public datasets, CIFAR-10, CIFAR-100 and STL-10, the top-1 accuracy was 97.26%, 83.99% and 82.40% respectively, which surpasses other augmentation methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junhyeok An
- Department of Image Science and Arts, Chung-Ang University, Dongjak, Seoul, Korea
| | - Soojin Jang
- Department of Image Science and Arts, Chung-Ang University, Dongjak, Seoul, Korea
| | - Junehyoung Kwon
- Department of Image Science and Arts, Chung-Ang University, Dongjak, Seoul, Korea
| | - Kyohoon Jin
- Department of Image Science and Arts, Chung-Ang University, Dongjak, Seoul, Korea
| | - YoungBin Kim
- Department of Image Science and Arts, Chung-Ang University, Dongjak, Seoul, Korea
- * E-mail:
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An HG, Shin S, Lee B, Kwon Y, Kwon TU, Kwon YJ, Chun YJ. Induction of synergistic apoptosis by tetramethoxystilbene and nutlin-3a in human cervical cancer cells. Toxicol Res 2022; 38:591-600. [PMID: 36277372 PMCID: PMC9532473 DOI: 10.1007/s43188-022-00150-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2022] [Revised: 08/03/2022] [Accepted: 08/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
2,4,3',5'-Tetramethoxystilbene (TMS) is a selective inhibitor of cytochrome P450 1B1 to block the conversion from estradiol to 4-OH-estradiol. Several studies suggested that TMS may act as a potent anti-cancer agent for hormone-related cancer including cervical cancer. Nutlin-3a is a cis-imidazoline analog that interferes with the interaction between mouse double minute 2 homolog (MDM2) and the tumor suppressor p53. The purpose of the study was to compare the cytotoxic effect of TMS and nutlin-3a treatment individually and in combination in HeLa cells. To assess the potential synergistic effects between TMS and nutlin-3a, low concentrations of TMS and nutlin-3a were simultaneously treated in HeLa cells. Based on cell viability, apoptosis assays, and the increase in cleaved caspase-3 and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase cleavage, it was demonstrated that the combination with TMS and nutlin-3a exerts a synergistic effect on cancer cell death. Isobologram analysis of HeLa cells noted synergism between TMS and nutlin-3a. The combined treatment increased the expression of mitochondrial pro-apoptotic factors such as Bax and Bak, and decreased the expression of the XIAP. In addition, combination treatment significantly enhanced the translocation of AIF to the nucleus in HeLa cells. In conclusion, the results demonstrate that the combination of TMS and nutlin-3a induces synergistic apoptosis in HeLa cells, suggesting the possibility that this combination can be applied as a novel therapeutic strategy for cervical cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hong-Gyu An
- College of Pharmacy, Chung-Ang University, 84 Heukseok-ro, Dongjak-gu, 06974 Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Sangyun Shin
- College of Pharmacy, Chung-Ang University, 84 Heukseok-ro, Dongjak-gu, 06974 Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Boyoung Lee
- College of Pharmacy, Chung-Ang University, 84 Heukseok-ro, Dongjak-gu, 06974 Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Yeonju Kwon
- College of Pharmacy, Chung-Ang University, 84 Heukseok-ro, Dongjak-gu, 06974 Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Tae-Uk Kwon
- College of Pharmacy, Chung-Ang University, 84 Heukseok-ro, Dongjak-gu, 06974 Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Yeo-Jung Kwon
- College of Pharmacy, Chung-Ang University, 84 Heukseok-ro, Dongjak-gu, 06974 Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Young-Jin Chun
- College of Pharmacy, Chung-Ang University, 84 Heukseok-ro, Dongjak-gu, 06974 Seoul, Republic of Korea
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Lee JY, Lim H, Ahn JW, Jang D, Lee SH, Park K, Kim SE. Design of a 3D BMP-2-Delivering Tannylated PCL Scaffold and Its Anti-Oxidant, Anti-Inflammatory, and Osteogenic Effects In Vitro. Int J Mol Sci 2018; 19:E3602. [PMID: 30445673 PMCID: PMC6274927 DOI: 10.3390/ijms19113602] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2018] [Revised: 11/05/2018] [Accepted: 11/12/2018] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
In this study, a novel three-dimensional (3D) bone morphogenic protein-2 (BMP-2)-delivering tannylated polycaprolactone (PCL) (BMP-2/tannic acid (TA)/PCL) scaffold with anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, and osteogenic activities was fabricated via simple surface coating with TA, followed by the immobilization of BMP-2 on the TA-coated PCL scaffold. The BMP-2/TA/PCL scaffold showed controlled and sustained BMP-2 release. It effectively scavenged reactive oxygen species (ROS) in cells, and increased the proliferation of MC3T3-E1 cells pre-treated with hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂). Additionally, the BMP-2/TA/PCL scaffold significantly suppressed the mRNA levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including matrix metalloproteinases-3 (MMP-3), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced MC3T3-E1 cells. Furthermore, it showed outstanding enhancement of the osteogenic activity of MC3T3-E1 cells through increased alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and calcium deposition. Our findings demonstrated that the BMP-2/TA/PCL scaffold plays an important role in scavenging ROS, suppressing inflammatory response, and enhancing the osteogenic differentiation of cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jae Yong Lee
- Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Rare Diseases Institute, Korea University Guro Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, 148 Guro-dong, Guro-gu, Seoul 08308, Korea.
| | - Hyunwoong Lim
- Department of Industrial Management Engineering, Korea University, 145 Anam-ro, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 02841, Korea.
| | - Jae Won Ahn
- Department of Systems Biotechnology, Chung-Ang University, Anseong, Gyeonggi-do 17546, Korea.
| | - Dongsik Jang
- Department of Industrial Management Engineering, Korea University, 145 Anam-ro, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 02841, Korea.
| | - Seung Hee Lee
- Department of Nursing, Inha University, 100 Inha-ro, Michuhol-gu, Incheon 22212, Korea.
| | - Kyeongsoon Park
- Department of Systems Biotechnology, Chung-Ang University, Anseong, Gyeonggi-do 17546, Korea.
| | - Sung Eun Kim
- Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Rare Diseases Institute, Korea University Guro Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, 148 Guro-dong, Guro-gu, Seoul 08308, Korea.
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