The treatment of nerve injuries has taken a new dimension with the development of tissue engineering techniques. Prior to tissue engineering, suturing and surgery were the only options for effective treatment. With the advent of tissue engineering, it is now possible to design a scaffold that matches the exact biological and mechanical properties of the tissue. This has led to substantial reduction in the complications posed by surgeries and suturing to the patients. New synthetic and natural polymers are being applied to test their efficiency in generating an ideal scaffold. Along with these, cells and growth factors are also being incorporated to increase the efficiency of a scaffold. Efforts are being made to devise a scaffold that is biodegradable, biocompatible, conducting and immunologically inert. The ultimate goal is to exactly mimic the extracellular matrix in our body, and to elicit a combination of biochemical, topographical and electrical cues via various polymers, cells and growth factors, using which nerve regeneration can efficiently occur.

Hydrogels are cross-linked networks of macromolecular compounds characterized by high water absorption capacity. Such materials find a wide range of biomedical applications. Several polymeric hydrogels can also be used in cosmetics. Herein, the structure, properties and selected applications of hydrogels in cosmetics are discussed in general. Detailed examples from scientific literature are also shown. In this review paper, most common biopolymers used in cosmetics are presented in detail together with issues related to skin treatment and hair conditioning. Hydrogels based on collagen, chitosan, hyaluronic acid, and other polysaccharides have been characterized. New trends in the preparation of hydrogels based on biopolymer blends as well as bigels have been shown. Moreover, biopolymer hydrogels employment in encapsulation has been mentioned.

BackgroundType 1 Diabetes Mellitus is caused by auto immune destruction of insulin producing beta cells in the pancreas. Currently available treatments include transplantation of isolated islets from donor pancreas to the patient. However, this method is limited by inadequate means of immuno-suppression to prevent islet rejection and importantly, limited supply of islets for transplantation. Autologous adult stem cells are now considered for cell replacement therapy in diabetes as it has the potential to generate neo-islets which are genetically part of the treated individual. Adopting methods of islet encapsulation in immuno-isolatory devices would eliminate the need for immuno-suppressants.Methodology/Principal FindingsIn the present study we explore the potential of human adipose tissue derived adult stem cells (h-ASCs) to differentiate into functional islet like cell aggregates (ICAs). Our stage specific differentiation protocol permit the conversion of mesodermic h-ASCs to definitive endoderm (Hnf3β, TCF2 and Sox17) and to PDX1, Ngn3, NeuroD, Pax4 positive pancreatic endoderm which further matures in vitro to secrete insulin. These ICAs are shown to produce human C-peptide in a glucose dependent manner exhibiting in-vitro functionality. Transplantation of mature ICAs, packed in immuno-isolatory biocompatible capsules to STZ induced diabetic mice restored near normoglycemia within 3–4 weeks. The detection of human C-peptide, 1155±165 pM in blood serum of experimental mice demonstrate the efficacy of our differentiation approach.Conclusionsh-ASC is an ideal population of personal stem cells for cell replacement therapy, given that they are abundant, easily available and autologous in origin. Our findings present evidence that h-ASCs could be induced to differentiate into physiologically competent functional islet like cell aggregates, which may provide as a source of alternative islets for cell replacement therapy in type 1 diabetes.

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