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Full-Text Articles in Engineering
Design Of Cell-Instructive Biomaterial Scaffolds For Intervertebral Disc Regeneration, Nadia Sharma
Design Of Cell-Instructive Biomaterial Scaffolds For Intervertebral Disc Regeneration, Nadia Sharma
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Biomaterials-based therapies targeting the nucleus pulposus (NP) have the potential to promote regeneration and restore mechanical function to the intervertebral disc. This study developed composite hydrogels incorporating decellularized NP (DNP) and assessed its effects on viability, retention and differentiation of U-CH1 cells, an NP progenitor-like cell line. A minimal protocol was developed to decellularize bovine NP that reduced nuclear content while preserving key extracellular matrix components predicted to be favourable for bioactivity. The resulting DNP demonstrated cell-instructive effects, supporting U-CH1 viability and retention within the hydrogels, and promoted the differentiation of the progenitor-like cells towards an NP-like phenotype. These studies …
Design Of Tissue-Specific Cellular Microenvironments For Adipose-Derived Stromal Cell Culture And Delivery, Arthi Shridhar
Design Of Tissue-Specific Cellular Microenvironments For Adipose-Derived Stromal Cell Culture And Delivery, Arthi Shridhar
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
The development of in vitro cell culture models that investigate tissue-specific effects of the extracellular matrix (ECM) on stem/progenitor cell lineage-commitment can contribute towards the design of improved cell delivery strategies. This thesis developed processing methods that conserved ECM bioactivity to generate well-characterized 2- and 3-D culture platforms that facilitated the evaluation of ECM composition on the adipogenic and osteogenic differentiation of human adipose-derived stromal cells (ASCs). Initial work compared α-amylase and pepsin digestion as methods to fabricate ECM coatings. The effects of enzyme processing and ECM composition were explored using human decellularized adipose tissue (DAT) and bovine tendon collagen …