Marino Attilio, Filippeschi Carlo, Genchi Giada Graziana, Mattoli Virgilio, Mazzolai Barbara, Ciofani Gianni
Center for MicroBioRobotics @SSSA, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Viale Rinaldo Piaggio 34 Pontedera, 56025, Italy; The Biorobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Viale Rinaldo Piaggio 34 Pontedera, 56025, Italy.
Center for MicroBioRobotics @SSSA, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Viale Rinaldo Piaggio 34 Pontedera, 56025, Italy.
Acta Biomater. 2014 Oct;10(10):4304-13. doi: 10.1016/j.actbio.2014.05.032. Epub 2014 Jun 4.
The need for a better understanding of cell behavior and for exploiting cell functions in various healthcare applications has driven biomedical research to develop increasingly complex fabrication strategies to reproduce the natural biological microenvironment in vitro. Different approaches have led to the development of refined examples of 2- and 3-D structures able to sustain cellular proliferation, differentiation and functionality very similar to those normally occurring in living organisms. One such approach is two-photon polymerization. In this paper, we present a trabecula-like structure (which we have named "Osteoprint") that resembles to the typical microenvironment of trabecular bone cells. Starting from microtomography images of the trabecular bone, we prepared several Osteoprints through two-photon polymerization and tested the behavior of SaOS-2 bone-like cells cultured on our structures. Interestingly, we found that Osteoprints deeply affect cellular behavior, determining an exit from the cell cycle and an enhancement of osteogenic differentiation. Indeed, we found an up-regulation of the genes involved in SaOS-2 cell maturation and an increase in hydroxyapatite production and accumulation upon SaOS-2 culture on the Osteoprints. The findings we obtained are extremely interesting, and open up new perspectives in "bioinspired" approaches for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.
为了更好地理解细胞行为并在各种医疗应用中利用细胞功能，生物医学研究推动了越来越复杂的制造策略的发展，以在体外重现自然生物微环境。不同的方法已促成了能够维持细胞增殖、分化和功能的二维和三维结构的精细实例的开发，这些功能与活生物体中正常发生的功能非常相似。一种这样的方法是双光子聚合。在本文中，我们展示了一种小梁样结构（我们将其命名为“骨打印”），它类似于小梁骨细胞的典型微环境。从小梁骨的显微断层扫描图像开始，我们通过双光子聚合制备了几个骨打印结构，并测试了在我们的结构上培养的类SaOS-2骨细胞的行为。有趣的是，我们发现骨打印结构深刻影响细胞行为，导致细胞退出细胞周期并增强成骨分化。事实上，我们发现参与SaOS-2细胞成熟的基因上调，并且在骨打印结构上培养SaOS-2细胞后，羟基磷灰石的产生和积累增加。我们获得的这些发现极其有趣，并为组织工程和再生医学的“生物启发”方法开辟了新的前景。
