Developments in three-dimensional (3D) printing technologies have led to many potential applications in various biomedical fields, especially artificial bone substitutes (ABSs). However, due to the characteristics of artificial materials, biocompatibility and infection remain issues. Here, multifunctional ABSs have been designed to overcome these issues by the inclusion of a biochemical modality that allows simultaneous detection of an infection biomarker by osteo-friend 3D scaffolds. The developed multifunctional scaffolds consist of calcium-deficient hydroxyapatite (CDHA), which has a similar geometric structure and chemical composition to human bone, and gold nanoparticles (Au NPs), which assists osteogenesis and modulates the fluorescence of labels in their microenvironment. The Au NPs were subsequently conjugated with fluorescent dye-labeled probe DNA, which allowed selective interaction with a specific target biomarker, and the fluorescent signal of the dye was temporally quenched by the Au NP-derived Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET). When the probe DNA unfolded to bind to the target biomarker, the fluorescence signal was recovered due to the increased distance between the dye and Au NPs. To demonstrate this sensing mechanism, a microbial oligonucleotide was selected as a target biomarker. Consequently, the multifunctional scaffold simultaneously facilitated osteogenic proliferation and the detection of the infection biomarker.
The disruption of thyroid hormones because of chemical exposure is a significant societal problem. Chemical evaluations of environmental and human health risks are conventionally based on animal experiments. However, owing to recent breakthroughs in biotechnology, the potential toxicity of chemicals can now be evaluated using 3D cell cultures. In this study, the interactive effects of thyroid‐friendly soft (TS) microspheres on thyroid cell aggregates are elucidated and their potential as a reliable toxicity assessment tool is evaluated. Using state‐of‐the‐art characterization methods coupled with cell‐based analysis and quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry, it is shown that TS‐microsphere‐integrated thyroid cell aggregates exhibit improved thyroid function. Specifically, the responses of zebrafish embryos, which are used for thyroid toxicity analysis, and the TS‐microsphere‐integrated cell aggregates to methimazole (MMI), a known thyroid inhibitor, are compared. The results show that the thyroid hormone disruption response of the TS‐microsphere‐integrated thyroid cell aggregates to MMI is more sensitive compared with those of the zebrafish embryos and conventionally formed cell aggregates. This proof‐of‐concept approach can be used to control cellular function in the desired direction and hence evaluate thyroid function. Thus, the proposed TS‐microsphere‐integrated cell aggregates may yield new fundamental insights for advancing in vitro cell‐based research.
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