Design of a biaxial mechanical loading bioreactor for tissue engineering.

We designed a loading device that is capable of applying uniaxial or biaxial mechanical strain to a tissue engineered biocomposites fabricated for transplantation. While the device primarily functions as a bioreactor that mimics the native mechanical strains, it is also outfitted with a load cell for providing force feedback or mechanical testing of the constructs. The device subjects engineered cartilage constructs to biaxial mechanical loading with great precision of loading dose (amplitude and frequency) and is compact enough to fit inside a standard tissue culture incubator. It loads samples directly in a tissue culture plate, and multiple plate sizes are compatible with the system. The device has been designed using components manufactured for precision-guided laser applications. Bi-axial loading is accomplished by two orthogonal stages. The stages have a 50 mm travel range and are driven independently by stepper motor actuators, controlled by a closed-loop stepper motor driver that features micro-stepping capabilities, enabling step sizes of less than 50 nm. A polysulfone loading platen is coupled to the bi-axial moving platform. Movements of the stages are controlled by Thor-labs Advanced Positioning Technology (APT) software. The stepper motor driver is used with the software to adjust load parameters of frequency and amplitude of both shear and compression independently and simultaneously. Positional feedback is provided by linear optical encoders that have a bidirectional repeatability of 0.1 µm and a resolution of 20 nm, translating to a positional accuracy of less than 3 µm over the full 50 mm of travel. These encoders provide the necessary position feedback to the drive electronics to ensure true nanopositioning capabilities. In order to provide the force feedback to detect contact and evaluate loading responses, a precision miniature load cell is positioned between the loading platen and the moving platform. The load cell has high accuracies of 0.15% to 0.25% full scale.

Delayed cell death signaling in traumatized central nervous system: hypoxia.

There are two different ways for cells to die: necrosis and apoptosis. Cell death has traditionally been described as necrotic or apoptotic based on morphological criteria. There are controversy about the respective roles of apoptosis and necrosis in cell death resulting from trauma to the central nervous system (CNS). An evaluation of work published since 1997 in which electron microscopy was applied to ascertain the role of apoptosis and necrosis in: spinal cord injury, stroke, and hypoxia/ischemia (H/I) showed evidence for necrosis and apoptosis based on DNA degradation, presence of histones in cytoplasm, and morphological evidence in spinal cord. In the aftermath of stroke, many of the biochemical markers for apoptosis were present but the morphological determinations suggested that necrosis is the major source of post-traumatic cell death. This was not the case in H/I where both biochemical assays and the morphological studies gave more consistent results in a manner similar to the spinal cord injury studies. After H/I, major factors affecting cell death outcomes are DNA damage and repair processes, expression of bcl-like gene products and inflammation-triggered cytokine production.