Question

Find and summarize one specific application of IPCSs in bone tissue engineering. Your summary should include scaffold characteristics, scaffold manufacturing technique, development process of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (IPSCs), how IPSCs response to these scaffolds, differentiation characteristics of IPCSc, how osteogenic differentiation is evaluated and general comments about potential usage of IPSCs in bone tissue engineering applications?

Answer 1

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (IPSCs)

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (IPSCs) are programmed somatic cells is a mile stone in tissue regeneration. IPSCs have the features similar to embryonic stem cells (ESCs) such as pluripotency and self-renewal ability. We have to design a suitable scaffold inorder to get a mature bone tissue similar to the native one through iPSC technology.

Scaffold characteristics

The scaffold should be biocompatible, biodegradable, bioactive with good architecture and mechanical properties. The scaffold should be highly porous to provide a platform for cell attchment, proliferation and differentiation and also to remove waste products. To support these cellular activities the scaffold must be biocompatible and provide mechanical support to the newly developed tissues. After tissue regeneration the scaffold must be degrade gradually for the newly regenerated tissue. The mostly used natural polymers as scaffold are polysaccharides (chitosan, chitin, alginate, agarose, and cellulose) and synthetic polymers, such as poly(lactic acid) (PLA), poly (glycolic acid) (PGA), poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB), poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) etc. These natural polymers permit cell attchment and proliferation. Synthetic polymers are flexible for their structural and mechanical features.

Scaffold manufacturing techniques

The scaffold manufacturing depends on the nature of biomaterials. The commonly used techniques for manufacturing scaffolds are the basic solvent casting, gas foaming, lyophilization, phase separation, self-assembling and the electrospinning and 3D bioprinting.

Development process of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (IPSCs)

IPSCs can also be obtained from adult somatic by dedifferentiation (a cell can give rise to different types of cells) or cell reprogramming.

IPSCs response to scaffolds

IPSCs activate and expand in response to damage or any stress (for exmple antiinflamatory, response to various concentrations of glucose or any other external stimuli).

Differentiation characteristics of IPSCc

iPSC differentiation is a powerful tool in the development of therapeutic strategies. By using the specific transcription factors (or key reprogramming genes) such as Oct-3/4, KLF4, SOX2, c-Myc, the IPSC cells can differentiate into ectodermal, endodermal and mesodermal cells.

Osteogenic differentiation

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have the capacity to differentiate and regenerate into different types of cells such as adipocytes, chondrocytes and osteocytes.