Researchers From China Develop First Remote-Controlled 'Smart' Endothelialization Platform For Cardiovascular Disease Treatment
Source: Thailand Medical News Dec 04, 2019 5 years, 2 weeks, 4 days, 6 hours, 25 minutes ago
Cardiovascular (CV) disease has become the leading cause of death worldwide.
Vascular regeneration is one of the many promising treatments for cardiovascular disease. Remodeling the endotheliumi.e., forming a confluent vascular endothelial cell monolayer on the lumen plays a vital role in this process.
However, rapid
endothelialization poses challenges, however, when using existing synthetic biomaterials, due to their static properties. Such materials cannot offer dynamic, on-demand means for manipulating specific vascular endothelial cell functions at different stages of endothelium remodeling.
A new joint research group led by Dr. Du Xuemin at the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology (SIAT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences recently demonstrated a remote-controlled "smart" platform that effectively directs programmed vascular endothelium remodeling in a temporally controllable manner.
The study was published in
National Science Review recently.
The Chinese researchers first prepared a bilayer platform with programmable surface topographies using a shape-memory polymer and gold nanorods acting as a photothermal agent. The bilayer platform allowed on-demand manipulation of vascular endothelial cell functions, thus meeting the requirements of endothelium remodeling.
For the endothelialization process of native blood vessels, vascular endothelial cells and progenitor cells are first recruited to regeneration sites. This is followed by the adhesion and spreading of the
vascular endothelial cells to form a confluent vascular endothelial cell monolayer. In the human body, such a process is implemented through extracellular matrix (ECM)-mediated stepwise modulation of vascular endothelial cell functions at different stages.
Dr Zhao Qilong, first author of the study told
Thailand Medical News, "The new platform possesses originally stable anisotropic microgroove array topography. This topography can significantly direct cell polarization and thereby enhance the collective migration of vascular endothelial cells."
With 10 seconds of near-infrared (NIR) irradiation, the heat generated on the bottom layer induced the surface topographies of the platform to change from their original anisotropic microgroove array to a permanent isotropic micropillar array.
Focal adhesion and spreading of vascular endothelial cells were subsequently promoted at the later stage of endothelialization by the platform after the topographies were changed. The remote-controlled "smart" platform promoted different functions of vascular endothelial cells in turn, thus mimicking dynamic ECM-mediated effects throughout the endothelialization process for the first time using synthetic biomaterials.
Dr. Du Xuemin from SIAT further added, "Traditionally, biomaterials and tissue engineering scaffolds offer suitable platforms to support cell attachment and ingrowth. We aim to develop biomaterials with dynamic properties to actively modulate different cell functions in specific spatiotemporal manners, just like the native ECM in our bodies. We believe biomaterials with dynamic
properties will contribute to the progress of wound healing and complex tissue/organ regeneration."
Reference : Qilong Zhao et al, A Stage-Specific Cell Manipulation Platform for On-demand Inducing Endothelialization, National Science Review (2019). DOI: 10.1093/nsr/nwz188
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-12-remote-controlled-smart-platform-cardiovascular-disease.html 
