Stimulating blood vessel formation with magnets
2021年7月22日 - 8:00AM
JCN Newswire
Magnetic field can be used to stimulate blood vessel growth,
according to a study published in the journal Science and
Technology of Advanced Materials. The findings, by researchers at
the Tecnico Lisboa and NOVA School of Science and Technology in
Portugal, could lead to new treatments for cancers and help
regenerate tissues that have lost their blood supply.
"Researchers have found it challenging to develop functional,
vascularized tissue that can be implanted or used to regenerate
damaged blood vessels," says Frederico Ferreira, a bioengineer at
Tecnico Lisboa's Institute for Biosciences and Bioengineering. "We
developed a promising cell therapy alternative that can
non-invasively stimulate blood vessel formation or regeneration
through the application of an external low-intensity magnetic
field."
The researchers worked with human mesenchymal stromal cells from
bone marrow. These cells can change into different cell types, and
also secrete a protein called VEGF-A that stimulates blood vessel
formation.
Ana Carina Manjua and Carla Portugal, at the Research Centre LAQV
at the NOVA School of Science and Technology, developed two
hydrogel supports, made from polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) or gelatin,
both containing iron oxide nanoparticles. Cells were cultured on
the hydrogels and exposed to a low-intensity magnetic field for 24
hours.
The cells on the PVA hydrogel produced less VEGF-A after the
magnetic treatment. But the cells on the gelatin hydrogel produced
more. Subsequent lab tests showed that this VEGF-A rich extracts,
taken from the cultures on magnet-stimulated gelatin hydrogel,
improved the ability of human vascular endothelial cells to sprout
into branching blood vessel networks.
Endothelial cells were then placed onto a culture dish with a gap
separating them. The conditioned media from magnet-treated
mesenchymal stromal cells from the gelatin hydrogel were added to
the endothelial cells, moving to close the gap between them in 20
hours. This was significantly faster than the 30 hours they needed
when they had not received magnetic treatment. Placing a magnet
directly below the dish triggered the mesenchymal stromal cells to
close the gap in just four hours.
Finally, VEGF-A extracts produced by magnet-treated mesenchymal
stromal cells on gelatin increased blood vessel formation in a
chick embryo, although further research is needed to confirm these
results.
More work is needed to understand what happens at the molecular
level when a magnetic field is applied to the cells. But the
researchers say gelatin hydrogels containing iron oxide
nanoparticles and mesenchymal stromal cells could one day be
applied to damaged blood vessels and then exposed to a short
magnetic treatment to heal them.
The team suggests that magnet-treated cells on PVA, which produce
less of the growth factor, could be used to slow down blood vessel
growth to limit the expansion of cancer cells.
Further information
Frederico Castelo Ferreira
Universidade de Lisboa
Email: frederico.ferreira@ist.utl.pt
Carla Portugal
Universidade Nova de Lisboa
Email: cmp@fct.unl.pt
Ana Carina Baeta Manjua
Universidade de Lisboa
Email: carina.manjua@tecnico.ulisboa.pt
About Science and Technology of Advanced Materials Journal
Open access journal STAM publishes outstanding research articles
across all aspects of materials science, including functional and
structural materials, theoretical analyses, and properties of
materials. Website:
https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tsta20/current
Dr. Yoshikazu Shinohara
STAM Publishing Director
Email: SHINOHARA.Yoshikazu@nims.go.jp
Press release distributed by ResearchSEA for Science and Technology
of Advanced Materials.
Source: Science and Technology of Advanced Materials
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