Biologic scaffolds composed of extracellular matrix (ECM) are utilized in numerous regenerative medicine applications to facilitate the constructive remodeling of tissues and organs. The mechanisms by which the host remodeling response occurs are not fully understood, but recent studies suggest that both constituent growth factors and biologically active degradation products derived from ECM play important roles. The objective of the present study was to determine if degradation of ECM scaffold materials in vitro by methods that are biochemically and physiologically relevant can yield products that possess chemotactic and/or mitogenic activities for fully differentiated mammalian endothelial cells and undifferentiated multipotential progenitor cells. ECM harvested from porcine urinary bladder was degraded enzymatically with pepsin/hydrochloric acid or papain. The ECM degradation products were tested for chemoattractant properties utilizing either 48-well chemotaxis filter migration microchambers or fluorescence-based filter migration assays, and were tested for mitogenic properties in cell proliferation assays. Results showed that ECM degradation products possessed chemotactic and mitogenic activities for multipotential progenitor cells and that the same degradation products inhibited both chemotaxis and proliferation of differentiated endothelial cells. These findings support the concept that degradation products of ECM bioscaffolds are important modulators of the recruitment and proliferation of appropriate cell types during the process of ECM scaffold remodeling.

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Urodeles and fetal mammals are capable of impressive epimorphic regeneration in a variety of tissues, whereas the typical default response to injury in adult mammals consists of inflammation and scar tissue formation. One component of epimorphic regeneration is the recruitment of resident progenitor and stem cells to a site of injury. Bioactive molecules resulting from degradation of extracellular matrix (ECM) have been shown to recruit a variety of progenitor and stem cells in vitro in adult mammals. The ability to recruit multipotential cells to the site of injury by in vivo administration of chemotactic ECM degradation products in a mammalian model of digit amputation was investigated in the present study. Adult, 6- to 8-week-old C57/BL6 mice were subjected to midsecond phalanx amputation of the third digit of the right hind foot and either treated with chemotactic ECM degradation products or left untreated. At 14 days after amputation, mice treated with ECM degradation products showed an accumulation of heterogeneous cells that expressed markers of multipotency, including Sox2, Sca1, and Rex1 (Zfp42). Cells isolated from the site of amputation were capable of differentiation along neuroectodermal and mesodermal lineages, whereas cells isolated from control mice were capable of differentiation along only mesodermal lineages. The present findings demonstrate the recruitment of endogenous stem cells to a site of injury, and/or their generation/proliferation therein, in response to ECM degradation products.

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The quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) was used to monitor endothelial cell (EC) adhesion on the gold surface of an oscillating quartz crystal contained in a QCM device. A number of parameters were investigated. First, we observed differential QCM O-ring toxicities for ECs. Second, appropriate conditions for cell culture and QCM cell environment were identified that can eliminate large-scale frequency oscillations in the measurements. These artifacts are not due to added cells but originate in the time-dependent evaporation of water. Having eliminated these artifacts, we then demonstrated that the measured steady-state crystal frequency shift, Delta f, and motional resistance shift, DeltaR, were determined by the number of firmly attached ECs requiring trypsinization from the crystal surface. Last, following steady-state attachment of ECs, the EC growth stimulation by fibroblast growth factor was monitored in a continuous fashion by measuring f and R values over a 72 h. period. We observed the Delta f values to increase in a way that reflected the increase in EC number bound to the QCM surface. Following addition of ECs to the QCM, the time-dependent increase in DeltaR can be interpreted in terms of increase by the ECs of the energy dissipation properties of the solution at the solution-gold surface interface. This effect is due to their rapid surface attachment and the elaboration of their cytoskeletal properties. These results indicate that the QCM technique can be used for the study of EC attachment and growth and suggest its potential for the real time study of per unit surface area cell mass distribution dynamics and viscoelastic properties and the cells' responses to stresses or perturbations brought about using biologically active molecules.

Numerous in vitro and in vivo studies have shown that the endothelial cells of the microvasculature of the lung and kidney are damaged by exposure to ionizing radiation, and this sustained endothelial cell injury is involved in the early and late radiation effects observed in these tissues. It is well accepted that ionizing radiation causes the generation of reactive oxygen species during exposure that results in damage to DNA and cellular organelles. It is more controversial, however, whether additional biochemical events or long-lived radicals occur and persist postirradiation that amplify and initiate new forms of cellular damage. Two families of Eukarion (EUK) compounds have been synthesized that possess superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase and peroxidase activities. The Mn porphyrins are available orally whereas the salen Mn complexes are administered by injection. In the present study we have examined the ability of these SOD/catalase mimetics to prevent apoptosis of endothelial cells when administered 1 h postirradiation (mitigation). A range of salen Mn complex (EUK-189 and EUK-207) and Mn porphyrins (EUK-418, -423, -425, -450, -451, -452, -453) were used to treat endothelial cells 1 h after the cells received 2–20 Gy ionizing radiation in vitro. Two lead compounds, EUK-207 at a dose of 30 μM and EUK-451 at a dose of 10 μM, exhibited low toxicity and mitigated radiation-induced apoptosis. Future animal studies will test whether these compounds protect when administered after radiation exposure as would be done after a radiological accident or a terrorism event.

The quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) technique has been applied to the real time monitoring of endothelial cell (EC) adhesion and spreading on the QCM gold surface. We previously showed that the measured QCM Deltaf and DeltaR shifts were due to cells adhering to the gold crystal surface, requiring proteolytic enzyme treatment to be removed from the surface, in order for the Deltaf and DeltaR shifts to return to zero. In the present report, we demonstrate the quantitative dependence and saturation of the measured Deltaf and DeltaR shifts on the number of firmly attached ECs as measured by electronic counting of the cells. We demonstrate through a light microscope simulation experiment that the different Deltaf and DeltaR regions of the QCM temporal response curve correspond to the incident ECs contacting the surface, followed by their adhesion and spreading, which reflect cellular mass distribution and cytoskeletal viscoelasticity changes. Also, we demonstrate that the dose response curve of Deltaf and DeltaR values versus attached EC number is more sensitive and possesses less scatter for the hydrophilically treated surface compared to the native gold surface of the QCM. For both surfaces, a Deltaf and DeltaR versus trypsinized, attached EC number plot 1 h post-seeding exhibits a sigmoid curve shape whereas a similar plot 24 h post-seeding exhibits a hyperbolic curve shape. This number dependence suggests cell-cell cooperativity in the initial cell adhesion and spreading processes. These QCM data and our interpretation are corroborated by differences in cell appearance and spreading behavior we observed for ECs in a light microscope fluorescence simulation experiment of the cell density effect. For a stably attached EC monolayer at 24 h post-addition, steady-state Deltaf and DeltaR values are higher and exhibit saturation behavior for both the hydrophilically treated gold surface as compared to the untreated surface. The steady-state 24 h Deltaf and DeltaR values of stably attached ECs are shifted from the 1 h attached ECs. The 24 h values are characteristic of a more energy-dissipative structure. This is consistent with the time-dependent elaboration of surface contacts in anchorage-dependent ECs via the attachment of intregrins to underlying extracellular matrix. It is also in agreement with the known energy dissipation function of the ECs that cover the interior of blood vessels and are exposed to continuous pulsatile blood flow.

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