Liver Stem Cells / 한양의대학술지

Liver transplantation has been regarded as the definitive curative approach for pathologic liver conditions from the acute stage to the chronic end stage for decades. Recently, translational research has been focused on liver stem cell transplantation, using various cell therapies, due to the potential benefit of natural host liver regeneration. Many studies are ongoing utilizing and evaluating the use of either fetal-liver-derived stem cells or oval cells, however many obstacles still remain. Extensive research identifying and characterizimg stem/progenitor cells for potential application to in vitro cell therapy, whereas many questions remain concerning the isolation and identification of adult liver stem cells with adequate capacity for proliferation and the regeneration of injured liver. Recent approaches to liver regeneration include the production of hepatocyte-like cells from other stem cell sources such as mesenchymal stem cells and embryonic stems cells. Another major target for liver regeneration studies include the generation of liver stem cells from induced pluripotent stem cells (IPSC) We review the current data concerning characterization of stem cells and progenitor cells for their capacity to support their potential for re-population and regeneration of normal adult liver from liver damaged due to injury and/or disease.

3-D Printing in Organ Transplantation / 한양의대학술지

Recently, regenerative medicine utilizing tissue manufacturing has been a creative topic of study, offering promise for resolving the gap between insufficient organ supply and transplantation needs. Moreover, 3D generation of functional organs is seen as the main hope to resolve these issues that will be a major advancement in the field over the next generation. Organ printing is the 3D construction of functional cellular tissue that can replace organs made by additive biofabrication with computational technology. Its advantages offer rapid prototyping (RP) methods for fabricating cells and adjunctive biomaterials layer by layer for manufacturing 3D tissue structures. There is growing interest in applying stem cell research to bio-printing. Recently several bio-printing methods have been developed that accumulate organized 3D structures of living cells by inkjet, extrusion, and laser based printing systems. By printing spatially organized gradients of biomolecules as an extracellular matrix, direct stem cell seeding can then be engineered to differentiate into different lineages forming multiple subpopulations that closely approximate the desired organ. Pliable implementation patches can Stem cells for tissue regeneration can be arranged or deposited onto pliable implementation patches with the purpose of generating functional tissue structures. In this review, current research and advancement of RP-based bio-printing methods to construct synthetic living organs will be discussed. Furthermore, recent accomplishments in bioprinting methods for stem cell study and upcoming endeavors relevant to tissue bioengineering, regenerative medicine and wound healing will be examined.