Testing of tissue specimens obtained from SARS-CoV-2 nasopharyngeal swab-positive donors.

Risk for transmission of SARS-CoV-2 through allogeneic human tissue transplantation is unknown. To further evaluate the risk of virus transmission, tissues were obtained from deceased donors who had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA via nasopharyngeal swab. This study evaluated an array of human tissues recovered for transplantation, including bone, tendon, skin, fascia lata, vascular tissues, and heart valves. Tissue samples and plasma or serum samples, if available, were tested for viral RNA (vRNA) using a real time PCR system for the presence of virus RNA. All samples were tested in quadruplicate for both subgenomic (sgRNA) and genomic (gRNA) RNA encoding the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid gene. Amplification of a cellular housekeeping gene served as the positive control for every sample. A total of 47 tissue samples from 17 donors were tested for SARS-CoV-2 RNA. Four donors had plasma or serum available for paired testing. SARS-CoV-2 RNA was not detected from any tissue or plasma/serum sample tested. Based on these findings, risk of transmission through the transplantation of tissue types studied from SARS-CoV-2 infected donors is likely to be low.

Methods of Cryoprotectant Preservation: Allogeneic Cellular Bone Grafts and Potential Effects.

Debridement of the bone surface during a surgical fusion procedure initiates an injury response promoting a healing cascade of molecular mediators released over time. Autologous grafts offer natural scaffolding to fill the bone void and to provide local bone cells. Commercial bone grafting products such as allografts, synthetic bone mineral products, etc., are used to supplement or to replace autologous grafts by supporting osteoinductivity, osteoconductivity, and osteogenesis at the surgical site. To assure osteogenic potential, preservation of allogeneic cells with cryoprotectants has been developed to allow for long-term storage and thus delivery of viable bone cells to the surgical site. Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) is an intracellular cryoprotectant commonly used because it provides good viability of the cells post-thaw. However, there is known cytotoxicity reported for DMSO when cells are stored above cryogenic temperatures. For most cellular bone graft products, the cryoprotectant is incorporated with the cells into the other mineralized bone and demineralized bone components. During thawing, the DMSO may not be sufficiently removed from allograft products compared to its use in a cell suspension where removal by washing and centrifugation is available. Therefore, both the allogeneic cell types in the bone grafting product and the local cell types at the bone grafting site could be affected as cytotoxicity varies by cell type and by DMSO content according to reported studies. Overcoming cytotoxicity may be an additional challenge in the formation of bone at a wound or surgical site. Other extracellular cryoprotectants have been explored as alternatives to DMSO which preserve without entering the cell membrane, thereby providing good cellular viability post-thaw and might abrogate the cytotoxicity concerns.

Kinetic analysis of DAF-FM activation by NO: toward calibration of a NO-sensitive fluorescent dye.

Nitric oxide (NO) research in biomedicine has been hampered by the absence of a method that will allow quantitative measurement of NO in biological tissues with high sensitivity and selectivity, and with adequate spatial and temporal resolution. 4-amino-5-methylamino-2',7'-difluorofluorescein (DAF-FM) is a NO sensitive fluorescence probe that has been used widely for qualitative assessment of cellular NO production. However, calibration of the fluorescent signal and quantification of NO concentration in cells and tissues using fluorescent probes, have provided significant challenge. In this study we utilize a combination of mathematical modeling and experimentation to elucidate the kinetics of NO/DAF-FM reaction in solution. Modeling and experiments suggest that the slope of fluorescent intensity (FI) can be related to NO concentration according to the equation: ddtFI=2αk(1)NO(2)O(2)DAF-FMkNO+DAF-FM where α is a proportionality coefficient that relates FI to unit concentration of activated DAF-FM, k(1) is the NO oxidation rate constant, and k was estimated to be 4.3±0.6. The FI slope exhibits saturation kinetics with DAF-FM concentration. Interestingly, the effective half-maximum constant (EC(50)) increases proportionally to NO concentration. This result is not in agreement with the proposition that N(2)O(3) is the NO oxidation byproduct that activates DAF-FM. Kinetic analysis suggests that the reactive intermediate should exhibit NO-dependent consumption and thus NO(2)() is a more likely candidate. The derived rate law can be used for the calibration of DAF-FM fluorescence and the quantification of NO concentration in biological tissues.