Stem cells from extra-embryonic sources can be obtained by non-invasive procedures. We have standardized a method for the expansion of equine umbilical cord-derived matrix cells (EUCMCs) for potential therapy. EUCMCs were isolated from the umbilical cord of five mares immediately after delivery. For expansion, cells were grown in alpha-MEM and MSCBM. Moreover, to measure the effect of growth factor supplementation, epidermal growth factor (EGF) was added to alpha-MEM. alpha-MEM and MSCBM media performed similarly in terms of population doubling and CFU number value. EGF supplementation of alpha-MEM determined a significant increase of the population doubling value. EGF supplementation did not affect the adipogenic and chondrogenic differentiation while bone nodule sizes an increased with the osteogenic protocol. Both alpha-MEM and MSCBM can be used to cultivate EUCMCs. alpha-MEM supplemented with EGF might represent an advantage for EUCMCs expansion. The results could be useful in choosing the culture medium since alpha-MEM is more cost-effective than MSCBM.

Background -: Rabbits provide an excellent model for many animal and human diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, for the development of new vaccines in wound healing management and in the field of tissue engineering of tendon, cartilage, bone and skin.

The amnion is a particular tissue whose cells show features of multipotent stem cells proposed for use in cellular therapy and regenerative medicine. From equine amnion collected after the foal birth we have isolated MSCs (mesenchymal stem cells), namely EAMSCs (equine amnion mesenchymal stem cells), from the mesoblastic layer. The cells were grown in α-MEM (α-modified minimum essential medium) and the effect of EGF (epidermal growth factor) supplementation was evaluated. To assess the growth kinetic of EAMSCs we have taken into account some parameters [PD (population doubling), fold increase and DT (doubling time)]. The differentiation in chondrogenic, adipogenic and osteogenic types of cells and their epitope expression by a cytofluorimetric study have been reported. EGF supplementation of the culture medium resulted in a significant increase in PD growth parameter and in the formation of bone nodules for the osteogenic differentiation. By immunohistochemistry the amnion tissue shows a positivity for the c-Kit (cluster tyrosine-protein kinase), CD105 and Oct-4 (octamer-binding transcription factor 4) antigens that confirmed the presence of MSCs with embryonic phenotype.

The development of biomaterials ensuring proper cell adhesion, polarization, migration and differentiation represents a true enabler for successful tissue-engineering applications. Surface nanostructuring was suggested as a promising method for improving cell-substrate interaction. Here, we study Wharton's Jelly human Mesenchymal Stem Cells (WJ-hMSC) interacting with nanogratings (NGs) having a controlled amount of nanotopographical noise (nTN). Our data demonstrate that unperturbed NGs induce cell polarization, alignment and migration along NG lines. The introduction of nTN dramatically modifies this behavior and leads to a marked loss of cell polarization and directional migration, even at low noise levels. High-resolution focal adhesions (FAs) imaging showed that this behavior is caused by the release of the geometrical vinculum imposed by the NGs to FA shaping and maturation. We argue that highly anisotropic nanopatterned scaffolds can be successfully exploited to drive stem cell migration in regenerative medicine protocols and discuss the impact of scaffold alterations or wear.

Platelets contain abundant growth factors and cytokines that have a positive influence on the migration and proliferation of different cell types by modulating its physiopathological processes. As it is known that human umbilical cord blood platelet lysate (UCB-PL) contains a supraphysiological concentration of growth factors, in the present study, we investigated its effectiveness in wound-healing processes. Human UCB-PL was obtained by the freeze/thaw of platelet concentrate (1.1 × 10 9 platelets/L), and its effect was evaluated on human or mouse endothelial cells, monocytes, fibroblasts, and keratinocytes in different concentrations. Human UCB-PL was observed to have high levels of pro-angiogenic growth factor than peripheral blood platelet-rich plasma. Among the cell lines, different concentrations of human UCB-PL were necessary to influence their viability and proliferation. For L929 cells, 5% of total volume was necessary, while for human umbilical vein endothelial cell, it was 10%. Cell migration on monocytes was increased with respect to the positive control, and scratch closure on keratinocytes was increased with respect to serum-free medium with only 10% of human UCB-PL. We concluded that the human UCB-PL may be useful to produce a large amount of standard platelet concentrates sufficient for several clinical-scale expansions avoiding inter-individual variability, which can also be used as a functional tool for clinical regenerative application for wound healing. K E Y W O R D S human umbilical cord blood, in vitro characterisation, platelet lysate, wound healing

ABSTRACT:The leading idea of this work is to continuously retrieve glaciers surface velocity through SAR imagery, in particular using the amplitude data from the new ESA satellite sensor Sentinel-1 imagery. These imagery key aspects are the free access policy, the very short revisit time (down to 6 days with the launch of the Sentinel-1B satellite) and the high amplitude resolution (up to 5 m). In order to verify the reliability of the proposed approach, a first experiment has been performed using Sentinel-1 imagery acquired over the Karakoram mountain range (North Pakistan) and Baltoro and other three glaciers have been investigated. During this study, a stack of 11 images acquired in the period from October 2014 to September 2015 has been used in order to investigate the potentialities of the Sentinel-1 SAR sensor to retrieve the glacier surface velocity every month. The aim of this test was to measure the glacier surface velocity between each subsequent pair, in order to produce a time series of the surface velocity fields along the investigated period. The necessary coregistration procedure between the images has been performed and subsequently the glaciers areas have been sampled using a regular grid with a 250 × 250 meters posting. Finally the surface velocity field has been estimated, for each image pair, using a template matching procedure, and an outlier filtering procedure based on the signal to noise ratio values has been applied, in order to exclude from the analysis unreliable points. The achieved velocity values range from 10 to 25 meters/month and they are coherent to those obtained in previous studies carried out on the same glaciers and the results highlight that it is possible to have a continuous update of the glacier surface velocity field through free Sentinel-1 imagery, that could be very useful to investigate the seasonal effects on the glaciers fluid-dynamics.

Plasma samples from human cord blood, and fetuses, newborns, and adults of different mammalians species were analyzed by gel-filtration chromatography, to ascertain whether gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) fractions reflect liver maturation. Human cord blood plasma showed higher b-, m-, and s-GGT fraction as compared to adult women. In rat and mouse fetuses and in newborns, b-GGT was the most abundant fraction. As in adult humans, in adult rats, mice, rabbits, sheep, and mini pigs, f-GGT was the most abundant fraction. GGT fractions are a common feature of all mammalian species tested. Their pattern changes seem to reflect liver postnatal maturation, function.

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