Medical Grade Soluble Collagen

New Products-New Applications

We are pleased to announce the addition of  Medical Grade Collagen to our Cell Based Assay Solutions. Applications include:

• Tissue engineering 
• Wound healing
• Medical device coatings
• 3D cell cultures
• Drug delivery 
• Sealants 
• Electrospinning
• Hemostats
• 3D printing

This example outlines how this collagen can be used for cartilage regeneration from mesenschymal stem cells. Acta Biomater. 2016 Jan;30:212-221. doi: 10.1016/j.actbio.2015.11.024. Epub 2015 Nov 18.

Figure: Fabrication of macroporous woven scaffolds and pellet delivery via the macroporous woven collagen scaffold; (a) Liquid to solid phase transition of collagen molecules via electrocompaction to fabricate electrochemically aligned collagen threads and electrocompacted sheets. (b) Collagen thread is woven around a set of pins and threads are stabilized by crosslinking two collagen sheets on top and bottom of woven part of scaffold. (c) Schema of the final woven collagen scaffold. (d) 1 million MSCs pelletized at 500 ×g for 12 minutes, cultured for 3 days and then transferred in to scaffold holes.

SIGNIFICANCE: Mesenchymal condensation is critical for driving chondrogenesis, making high density cell seeding a standard in cartilage tissue engineering. Efforts to date have utilized scaffold free delivery of MSCs in pellet form. This study developed a macroporous scaffold that is fabricated by weaving highly aligned collagen threads. The scaffold can deliver high density cell condensates while providing mechanical stiffness comparable to that of cartilage. The scaffold also mimicked the arcade-like orientation of collagen fibers in cartilage. A highly robust chondrogenesis was observed in this mesenchymal cell pellet delivery system. Baseline mechanical robustness of this scaffold system will enable delivery of cell pellets as early as three days.

Ready to Use Blood Brain Barrier Model (BBB)

6, 12 and 24 Well Options

We are pleased to introduce our BBB Model. It is designed to provide more in vivo like data for your drug discovery and toxicology assays.

Our model mimic transport properties of the BBB due to the formation of tight junctions, higher expression of specific carriers, or great cell viability. The model includes brain endothelial cells with pericytes and astrocytes layered in an insert. This model improves endothelial cell polarization and enhance the formation of tight junctions, provide better endothelial cell-to-cell contact that is important for barrier development, and prevent the dilution of secreted neurotrophic factors, and these conditions collectively led to the development of an in vitro model that can truly mimic the BBB.

Diagram of BBB Model Transporters

Our Protocol includes methods for Drug Penetration Asays. 

Transport of a molecule (blue) through 3D Human BBB Model in a luminal to basal direction 

Calculation of apparent permeability (Papp in cm/min)

Apparent permeability coefficient Papp (in cm/min) based on the Fick's law can be calculated according to the following equation:

V_A: volume of abluminal chamber (cm³)

A: membrane surface area (1.12 cm²)

[C]_L: initial luminal tracer concentration (ng/ml)

[C]_A : abluminal tracer concentration (ng/ml) t : time of experiment (min)

 Our goal is to provide you better data...at a lower cost.

Why You Should Consider Culturing Your Cells in 3-D

2-D versus 3-D and meaningful outcomes

We have seen recent growth in our customers' demand for 3-D cell based assay solutions. This could be due to more the fact that these assays our proving to generate more in vivo like data.

Breast cancer cells, for example, grown in 2-D can easily be killed by low doses of chemotherapeutic drugs or low doses of radiation. If those same cells are grown in 3-D, they are resistant to the same doses of chemotherapeutic drugs or radiation, just like cancer as its found in the body. In this way, cells grown in 3D are more valid targets for testing and discovering new drugs to treat cancer. Another benefit of testing drugs in three dimensional cell culture versus two dimensional cell culture is that cells in 3D form multi-layers of cells whereas cells grown in 2-D form a monolayer of cells that is spread very thin on a plastic surface. When testing a drug in 2-D, it needs only to diffuse a short distance across the cell membrane to reach its intended target. In 3-D, the situation is more realistic and a drug needs to diffuse across multi-layers of cells to reach the cells on the inside of a microtissue.

Neuromics has a variety of options that will enable you to choose the best option(s) for your 3-D assays. These include:

• Collagel Hydrogels-New-Formulated using Type 1 Bovine, Human or Rat Collagen
• 3-D Nanofiber Solutions-Aligned Scaffolds, Randomly Oriented Scaffolds and Interactive Microenvironment System (IMEMS). 
• AlphaMAX3D-Potent three dimensional environment for cell culturing 
• AlphaGEL3D-Novel synthetic peptide hydrogel 
• Extracellular Matrix (ECM) Proteins-ECM proteins for cell culturing

Look for more posting on these important solutions.

Reconstructing 3D Living Biomaterials

Hydrogel Solutions for Tissue Reconstruction and Repair

Alphabioregen/Neuromics are pleased to announce the use of our Hydrogels for reconstructing living biomaterials for regenerative biology and medicine: Suwan N. Jayasinghe,Jensen Auguste, Chris J. Scotton. Platform Technologies for Directly Reconstructing 3D Living Biomaterials. DOI: 10.1002/adma.201503001.

In this study, researchers use our  Collagen Hydrogel, Collagen Hydrogel Soft and Collagen Hydrogel Soft+  to describe  in vivo applications using a murine model to interrogate biocompatibility and cellular behavior post-transfer.

Luc macrophages (CC or BES) were then incorporated into a fl uid mixture containing one of three alternative collagen-based hydrogels, namely, Collagen Hydrogel, Collagen Hydrogel Soft, or Collagen Hydrogel Soft+ (resulting in six possible combinations of macrophages and biopolymer).

Overview of Results

Figure: Bioluminescent imaging of implanted macrophage–biopolymer mixes. IC-21-Luc macrophages (CC or BES) were mixed with biopolymer (Hydrogel, Soft, or Soft+) and subcutaneously injected into the dorsal fl anks of C57Bl/6 mice (three mice per hydrogel, with CC on the left fl ank and BES on the right). Following intraperitoneal injection of delta-luciferin, macrophage bioluminescence was detected using an IVIS Lumina II imaging system. A representative image from day 1 post-implantation (and 25 min post luciferin injection) is shown, indicating the peak detectable radiance (photons s −1 cm −2) in identically sized regions of interest. The CE results were very similar to the BES implants.

Figure:  Histological analysis of the macrophage–biopolymer implantation site (MSB staining). At day 4 post-implantation, skin was harvested from each dorsal fl ank, and processed for histology. Where possible, serial sections directly adjacent to those shown in Figure 4 were stained with a modifi ed trichrome stain. Mature fi brillar collagen within the dermis appeared dark blue, while the collagen within the hydrogel was generally lighter blue in appearance, indicating a less highly cross-linked or fi brillar form of collagen. Scale bar: 200 µm.

These Collagen Hydrogels are proving easy to use and effective in the hands of our customers. If you are looking for solutions for tissue reconstruction/repair or 3-D in vivo like cell based assays, do not hesitate to contact me @ direct phone: 612-801-1007 or pshuster@neuromics.com. Thank you, Pete Shuster, CEO and Owner, Neuromics.