Laser polarimetry of the orientation structure of bone tissue osteons

A matrix method is proposed for describing polarization properties of biological tissues as an aggregate of uniaxial crystal structures. We investigated 25 μm-thick histological sections of compact bone tissue which provided single light scattering. It is shown that in this case there exists a unique relationship between the polarization parameters of the boundary laser field and the parameters of anisotropy and orientation of the structural elements of biological tissue. On this basis, contactless methods of laser polarimetry of histological sections of bone tissue have been proposed. Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 67, No. 1, pp. 52–55, January–February, 2000.     

反演在骨生长方程参数识别中的应用

基于BFGS算法,根据自行设计的动物实验,得到在不同应力环境中,快速生长期大鼠股骨生 长与重建过程中骨密度实测数据,采用反演数值方法,获取了骨生长方程中随时间变化的 生物参数B和K. 通过正演验证,表明所建立的基于BFGS算法的参数识别方法具有较好的 稳定性和较高的识别精度,能够反演出比较切合实际的生物参数数值. 研究表明,反问 题方法是解决生命现象不可测性和未知性问题的有效手段,把反演方法应用到骨生长与重建 等生命现象的研究中,可确定、修正预设的数学模式,为数值量化骨适应生物模型的建立提 供了一条可行的途径.     

Hydrostatic extrusion of polyethylene filled with hydroxyapatite

The hydrostatic extrusion of polyethylene filled with hydroxyapatite has been studied. It is shown that the extrusion behavior is qualitatively similar to that of unfilled polymer. Extruded products with flexural moduli of at least 10 GPa and flexural strengths of 90 MPa have been produced, which can be considered as candidates for load-bearing bone substitute materials. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

K-Carrageenan Stimulates Pre-Osteoblast Proliferation and Osteogenic Differentiation: A Potential Factor for the Promotion of Bone Regeneration?

Current cell-based bone tissue regeneration strategies cannot cover large bone defects. K-carrageenan is a highly hydrophilic and biocompatible seaweed-derived sulfated polysaccharide, that has been proposed as a promising candidate for tissue engineering applications. Whether κ-carrageenan can be used to enhance bone regeneration is still unclear. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether κ-carrageenan has osteogenic potential by testing its effect on pre-osteoblast proliferation and osteogenic differentiation in vitro. Treatment with κ-carrageenan (0.5 and 2 mg/mL) increased both MC3T3-E1 pre-osteoblast adhesion and spreading at 1 h. K-carrageenan (0.125–2 mg/mL) dose-dependently increased pre-osteoblast proliferation and metabolic activity, with a maximum effect at 2 mg/mL at day three. K-carrageenan (0.5 and 2 mg/mL) increased osteogenic differentiation, as shown by enhanced alkaline phosphatase activity (1.8-fold increase at 2 mg/mL) at day four, and matrix mineralization (6.2-fold increase at 2 mg/mL) at day 21. K-carrageenan enhanced osteogenic gene expression (Opn, Dmp1, and Mepe) at day 14 and 21. In conclusion, κ-carrageenan promoted MC3T3-E1 pre-osteoblast adhesion and spreading, metabolic activity, proliferation, and osteogenic differentiation, suggesting that κ-carrageenan is a potential osteogenic inductive factor for clinical application to enhance bone regeneration.     

切应力对牛骨蠕变变形的影响研究

骨尤其是湿骨,在恒定载荷作用下会发生蠕变变形。为了确定切应力是否影响骨的蠕变变形,采用对骨薄板试样分别施加集中载荷和均布载荷的方式,测量试样挠度实时的变化曲线。结果显示,在载荷恒定时,骨试样的挠度随时间不断增加,体现了典型的蠕变特性。集中荷载下骨的蠕变变形远大于均布荷载下骨的蠕变变形,湿骨的蠕变位移比干骨高近7倍。分析认为,对试样粘弹性性质的影响不仅有正应力的作用,也有切应力的作用;切应力产生的蠕变变形约为正应力所产生蠕变变形的0.85倍。     

Fabrication and Evaluation of Alginate/Bacterial Cellulose Nanocrystals–Chitosan–Gelatin Composite Scaffolds

It is common knowledge that pure alginate hydrogel is more likely to have weak mechanical strength, a lack of cell recognition sites, extensive swelling and uncontrolled degradation, and thus be unable to satisfy the demands of the ideal scaffold. To address these problems, we attempted to fabricate alginate/bacterial cellulose nanocrystals-chitosan-gelatin (Alg/BCNs-CS-GT) composite scaffolds using the combined method involving the incorporation of BCNs in the alginate matrix, internal gelation through the hydroxyapatite-d-glucono-δ-lactone (HAP-GDL) complex, and layer-by-layer (LBL) electrostatic assembly of polyelectrolytes. Meanwhile, the effect of various contents of BCNs on the scaffold morphology, porosity, mechanical properties, and swelling and degradation behavior was investigated. The experimental results showed that the fabricated Alg/BCNs-CS-GT composite scaffolds exhibited regular 3D morphologies and well-developed pore structures. With the increase in BCNs content, the pore size of Alg/BCNs-CS-GT composite scaffolds was gradually reduced from 200 μm to 70 μm. Furthermore, BCNs were fully embedded in the alginate matrix through the intermolecular hydrogen bond with alginate. Moreover, the addition of BCNs could effectively control the swelling and biodegradation of the Alg/BCNs-CS-GT composite scaffolds. Furthermore, the in vitro cytotoxicity studies indicated that the porous fiber network of BCNs could fully mimic the extracellular matrix structure, which promoted the adhesion and spreading of MG63 cells and MC3T3-E1 cells on the Alg/BCNs-CS-GT composite scaffolds. In addition, these cells could grow in the 3D-porous structure of composite scaffolds, which exhibited good proliferative viability. Based on the effect of BCNs on the cytocompatibility of composite scaffolds, the optimum BCNs content for the Alg/BCNs-CS-GT composite scaffolds was 0.2% (w/v). On the basis of good merits, such as regular 3D morphology, well-developed pore structure, controlled swelling and biodegradation behavior, and good cytocompatibility, the Alg/BCNs-CS-GT composite scaffolds may exhibit great potential as the ideal scaffold in the bone tissue engineering field.     

Co-Treatment of Purified Annatto Oil (Bixa orellana L.) and Its Granules (Chronic®) Improves the Blood Lipid Profile and Bone Protective Effects of Testosterone in the Orchiectomy-Induced Osteoporosis in Wistar Rats

This study aimed to evaluate and compare the effects of co-treatment with purified annatto oil (PAO) or its granules (GRA, Chronic^®) with that of testosterone on the orchiectomy-induced osteoporosis in Wistar rats. After surgery, rats were treated from day 7 until day 45 with testosterone only (TES, 7 mg/kg, IM) or TES + PAO or GRA (200 mg/kg, p.o.). The following parameters were evaluated: food/water intake, weight, HDL, LDL, glucose, triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), alkaline phosphatase levels, blood phosphorus and calcium contents, femur weight, structure (through scanning electron microscopy), and calcium content (through atomic absorption spectrophotometry). Our results show that orchiectomy could significantly change the blood lipid profile and decrease bone integrity parameters. Testosterone reposition alone could improve some endpoints, including LDL, TC, bone weight, and bone calcium concentration. However, other parameters were not significantly improved. Co-treatment with PAO or GRA improved the blood lipid profile and bone integrity more significantly and improved some endpoints not affected by testosterone reposition alone (such as TG levels and trabeculae sizes). The results suggest that co-treatment with annatto products improved the blood lipid profile and the anti-osteoporosis effects of testosterone. Overall, GRA had better results than PAO.     

Semi-empirical bone model for determination of trabecular structure properties from backscattered ultrasound

A novel semi-empirical scattering model of trabecular bone facilitating its characterization and allowing optimization of the interrogating pulse-echo transducer performance was developed. The model accounts for spatial density distribution of the trabeculae and includes measurement conditions such as pressure–time waveform of the probing ultrasound wave, the emitted field structure, and the transfer function and limited bandwidth of the acoustic source operating in pulse-echo mode. These measurement conditions are of importance as they modify the scattered echoes, which in turn are linked to the micro-architecture of the bone. The bone was modeled by a random distribution of long and thin cylindrical scatterers having randomly varying diameters and mechanical properties, and oriented perpendicularly to the ultrasound beam axis. To mimic clinically encountered conditions the relevant empirical data obtained at 1 MHz were input to the model. The data included pulse-echo source pressure field distribution in the focal zone and the above mentioned transfer function. With these data the model allowed frequency dependent backscattering coefficient of the simulated bone structure and its statistical properties to be determined. The results obtained indicated that the computer simulation is of particular relevance in studying scattering properties of the cancellous bone and holds promise as a tool to determine the relationship between the physical dimensions and shape of the scatterers and for monitoring of osteoporosis. The results of simulations also indicated that the new bone model proposed is well suited to mimic clinically relevant conditions. In contrast to the existing bone models, which usually assume scatterers to be randomly distributed as infinitely long identical cylinders with a cross-section much smaller than the probing ultrasound wave, the new model includes two populations of scatterers having different physical dimensions and also allows the mechanical properties of the scatterers to be varied.     

Sulfonate group-modified FePtCu nanoparticles as a selective probe for LDI-MS analysis of oligopeptides from a peptide mixture and human serum proteins

The availability of robust methods for the species-specific detection of meat and bone meal (MBM) in compound feedingstuffs is an important prerequisite to enforce current and upcoming European legislation on the use of processed animal proteins in animal nutrition. Among possible methods, those based on DNA turned out to be a reliable tool for this aim, since DNA is a quite thermostable molecule able to resist severe heat treatments applied in the manufacturing of animal meals. The application of such methods by control laboratories implies that the method has been validated including an assessment of its robustness. Successful transferability between laboratories is considered an important robustness criterion of the method. However, corresponding guidelines regarding the design of such a study relevant to this field are missing. Here, we demonstrate the feasibility of an alternative concept that was applied to check for the transferability of a qualitative assay for the detection of banned MBM in feedingstuffs at trace level based on real-time PCR. The concept was based on an experimental nested design applying analysis of variance (ANOVA) that was conducted independently in two laboratories and which allows for establishing major factors influencing the result of analysis. Statistical assessment of the results confirmed the importance of the DNA extraction/purification step utilised, whereas the PCR step turned out to be a minor factor regarding the overall variability of the results. Furthermore, blind samples comprised of compound feed adulterated with MBM at 0.1 % and blank compound feed were correctly classified as "positive" or "negative" samples, thus confirming fitness of purpose for the method. This approach can be of interest for other research groups working in the development of real-time PCR methods and in their use by control laboratories. Nested design of the study to check for the transferability of the real-time PCR method     

多层面验证共培养微环境诱导法诱导骨髓间充质干细胞心肌样分化

为了多层面探讨共培养微环境诱导法定向诱导骨髓间充质干细胞(MSCs)心肌样分化的可行性,取第3代MSCs与原代心肌细胞(CMs)进行共培养。在显微镜下观察诱导1周后的MSCs形态学变化,用免疫荧光和实时荧光定量聚合酶链式反应(RT-PCR)分别检测诱导的MSCs中心肌肌钙蛋白I(cTnI)、α-肌动蛋白(α-actin)、Nkx-2.5和GATA-4的基因表达变化情况。采用超高效液相色谱-串联质谱(UPLC-MS/MS)分别检测诱导组和对照组的代谢产物。诱导1周后的MSCs形态呈心肌样改变,cTnI、α-actin、Nkx-2.5和GATA-4的基因表达均明显升高,正交偏最小二乘法判别分析(OPLS-DA)模型显示诱导的MSCs代谢物向CMs转变趋势明显。通过多元和单元统计分析筛选差异变量,根据一级质谱和二级质谱比对结果,最终确定12种差异代谢物。与未经诱导的MSCs相比,经诱导的MSCs与CMs中变化趋势相同的差异代谢物有7种,变化趋势不同的差异代谢物有5种。实验结果表明,无论从形态、基因、蛋白质还是代谢层面看,MSCs通过与CMs间接接触共培养后均发生了心肌样改变,但是与CMs仍存在差异。