Abstract
Recent developments in stem cell research have promoted a flourishing of new biomaterials and scaffolds for tissue repair. However, there is a scarcity of procedures to monitor the performance of scaffold-stem cell combinations implanted in live animals, avoiding the inherent artefacts associated with in vitro assay conditions. We report the implementation of a procedure based on the use of the luciferase gene as a cell proliferation tracer to monitor, by in vivo non-invasive imaging, the performance of stem cell-biomaterial combinations used for tissue regeneration. In a model system using immunodepressed mice we show preference of a mouse embryonic mesenchymal cell line (C3H/10T1/2) for specific implantation sites and biomaterials during a prolonged in vivo growth period (3 months). Moreover, we analyzed the safety of implanted cells using a sensitive luminometric procedure and showed that the implanted cells did not spread to other organs. Our results demonstrate the utility of this simple and resource-saving procedure in the development and screening of biomaterials for tissue engineering.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 2718-2728 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Biomaterials |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue number | 17 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 2007 |
Keywords
- Cell proliferation
- Enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP)
- In vivo imaging
- Luciferase
- Scaffold
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Bioengineering
- Ceramics and Composites
- Biophysics
- Biomaterials
- Mechanics of Materials