Tissue Engineering of Cartilage Using Collagen Scaffold Enriched with Plant Polysaccharides.

Degenerative diseases associated with articular cartilage pose a huge burden on health care economics. The nature of the tissue involved and the changes therein do not allow self-healing; and most of these problems are progressive. Tissue engineering offers some solutions provided we focus on the right kind of cells and the appropriate surrounding niches created for a particular tissue. The present study deals with the formation of polysaccharide rich stable scaffold of collagen after cross-linking with oxidized gum arabic. The scaffold was tested for its biocompatibility and ability to support cells. The in vitro cytotoxicity of the scaffolds toward induced pluripotent stem cells and chondrocytes was evaluated. Evaluation of expression of lineage specific markers indicates differentiation of induced pluripotent stem cells to chondrogenic lineage and maintenance of chondrocytes per se when grown in the scaffold. Animal studies were carried out to study the efficacy of the scaffold to repair the knee injuries. Cells along with the scaffold appeared to be the best filling, in repair of injured cartilage. These studies show that these scaffolds are potential candidates in applications such as tissue engineering of cartilage.

Generation of iPSC from fetal fibroblast cells obtained from an abortus with type-I tri-allelic variants.

An integration free iPSC line was generated from fibroblast obtained from the skin of an aborted fetus in feeder free conditions using episomal based vectors expressing the pluripotency factors. The cell line generated was characterized and tested for pluripotency both in vitro and in vivo by teratoma formation and differentiation into defined lineages and brain organoids. Cell line reported here is shown to be mycoplasma free.