Engineered polyethylene glycol-maleimide matrices for regenerative medicine exhibit improved reaction efficiency and wider range of Young’s moduli by utilizing maleimide cross-linking chemistry. This hydrogel chemistry is advantageous for cell delivery due to the mild reaction that occurs rapidly enough for in situ delivery, while easily lending itself to “plug-and-play” design variations such as incorporation of enzyme-cleavable cross-links and cell-adhesion peptides.

A synthetic ECM-mimetic hydrogel platform with independent control over adhesive ligand density, mechanical properties, and proteolytic degradation provides a valuable tool to study how cells transduce ECM properties into morphogenetic behaviors.

Epithelial cells polarize and differentiate into organotypic cell aggregates in response to cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions. For example, Madin-Darby Canine Kidney (MDCK) cells form spherical cell aggregates (cysts) with distinct apical and basolateral polarity when cultured 3-dimensionally (embedded) in type I collagen gels. To investigate the effects of individual extracellular factors on epithelial morphogenesis, we engineered fast degrading protease-responsive polyethylene glycol (PEG) hydrogels functionalized with controlled densities of various bioligands (RGD peptide, laminin-1 (LN)) to allow 3-D culturing of MDCK cells, cyst expansion, and morphogenesis/ polarization. Cysts formed after 15 days culture in these hydrogels were analyzed with multiphoton fluorescence microscopy for markers of apical and basolateral membrane domains. Epithelial cysts formed in bioadhesive ligand-functionalized PEG gels exhibited a higher frequency of central lumen and interior apical pole formation as well as basolateral polarization compared to unmodified PEG hydrogels. These results demonstrate that incorporation of specific bioadhesive motifs into synthetic hydrogels provides 3-dimensional culture environments that support epithelial morphogenesis. These microenvironments provide a flexible and controlled system for systematic investigations into normal and pathologic morphogenic behaviors as well as synthetic environments for promoting tissue morphogenesis for regenerative medicine applications.

Many patients of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) are unresponsive to the current anti-VEGF treatment. The mechanisms for anti-VEGF resistance are poorly understood. We explore the unique property of the apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) binding protein (AIBP) that enhances cholesterol efflux from endothelial cells and macrophages to thereby limit angiogenesis and inflammation to tackle anti-VEGF resistance in CNV. We show that laser-induced CNV in mice with increased age showed increased resistance to anti-VEGF treatment, which correlates with increased lipid accumulation in macrophages. The combination of AIBP/ apoA-I and anti-VEGF treatment overcomes anti-VEGF resistance and effectively suppresses CNV. Furthermore, macrophage depletion in old mice restores CNV sensitivity to anti-VEGF treatment and blunts the synergistic effect of combination therapy. These results suggest that cholesterol-laden macrophages play a critical role in inducing anti-VEGF resistance in CNV. Combination therapy by neutralizing VEGF and enhancing cholesterol removal from macrophages is a promising strategy to combat anti-VEGF resistance in CNV.

It is a deeply engrained notion that the visual pigment rhodopsin signals light as a monomer, even though many G protein-coupled receptors are now known to exist and function as dimers. Nonetheless, recent studies (albeit all in vitro) have suggested that rhodopsin and its chromophore-free apoprotein, R-opsin, may indeed exist as a homodimer in rod disk membranes. Given the overwhelmingly strong historical context, the crucial remaining question, therefore, is whether pigment dimerization truly exists naturally and what function this dimerization may serve. We addressed this question in vivo with a unique mouse line (S-opsin + Lrat −/− ) expressing, transgenically, short-wavelength-sensitive cone opsin (S-opsin) in rods and also lacking chromophore to exploit the fact that cone opsins, but not R-opsin, require chromophore for proper folding and trafficking to the photoreceptor's outer segment. In R-opsin's absence, S-opsin in these transgenic rods without chromophore was mislocalized; in R-opsin's presence, however, S-opsin trafficked normally to the rod outer segment and produced functional S-pigment upon subsequent chromophore restoration. Introducing a competing R-opsin transmembrane helix H1 or helix H8 peptide, but not helix H4 or helix H5 peptide, into these transgenic rods caused mislocalization of R-opsin and S-opsin to the perinuclear endoplasmic reticulum. Importantly, a similar peptidecompetition effect was observed even in WT rods. Our work provides convincing evidence for visual pigment dimerization in vivo under physiological conditions and for its role in pigment maturation and targeting. Our work raises new questions regarding a potential mechanistic role of dimerization in rhodopsin signaling.rhodopsin | cone opsin | dimerization | protein trafficking R hodopsin and cone pigments mediate scotopic and photopic vision, respectively. They consist of opsin, the apo-protein, and 11-cis-retinal, a vitamin A-based chromophore. Light absorption by 11-cis-retinal triggers a conformational change in opsin, which in turn initiates a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) signaling pathway to lead to vision. Indeed, rhodopsin signaling is a prominent prototypical GPCR pathway from which a huge quantity of mechanistic details about such signaling in general has emerged. All along, it is a dogma that rhodopsin exists and functions as a monomer (1-6). About a decade ago, evidence began to emerge that rhodopsin may exist as a dimer, based on atomic force microscopy and cross-linking experiments performed on rod outersegment (ROS) disk membranes (7-9). However, this concept remains highly controversial because of the lack of in vivo evidence and also is puzzling because, unlike many GPCRs, monomeric rhodopsin is fully functional with respect to coupling to G protein (2, 4-6, 10) and to interactions with rhodopsin kinase and arrestin (11,12). In vivo evidence, albeit of paramount importance, is also challenging, because rhodopsin always exists as a single isoform in rod photoreceptors, thus making homomeric, higher-or...