Hollow fiber culture accelerates differentiation of Caco-2 cells

Caco-2 cells usually require 21 days of culture for developing sufficient differentiation in traditional two-dimensional Transwell culture, deviating far away from the quick differentiation of enterocytes in vivo. The recently proposed three-dimensional cultures of Caco-2 cells, though imitating the villi/crypt-like microstructure of intestinal epithelium, showed no effect on accelerating the differentiation of Caco-2 cells. In this study, a novel culture of Caco-2 cells on hollow fiber bioreactor was applied to morphologically mimic the human small intestine lumen for accelerating the expression of intestine functions. The porous hollow fibers of polyethersulfone (PES), a suitable membrane material for Caco-2 cell culture, successfully promoted cells to form confluent monolayer on the inner surface. The differentiated functions of Caco-2 cells, represented by alkaline phosphatase, γ-glutamyltransferase, and P-glycoprotein activity, were greatly higher in a 10-day hollow fiber culture than in a 21-day Transwell culture. Moreover, the Caco-2 cells on PES hollow fibers expressed higher F-actin and zonula occludens-1 protein than those on Transwell culture, indicative of an increased mechanical stress in Caco-2 cells on PES hollow fibers. The accelerated differentiation of Caco-2 cells on PES hollow fibers was unassociated with membrane chemical composition and surface roughness, but could be stimulated by hollow fiber configuration, since PES flat membranes with either rough or smooth surface failed to enhance the differentiation of Caco-2. Therefore, the accelerated expression of Caco-2 cell function on hollow fiber culture might show great values in simulation of the tissue microenvironment in vivo and guide the construction of intestinal tissue engineering apparatus.     

Multifunctional synthetic poly(L-glutamic acid)-based cancer therapeutic and imaging agents

Modern polymer chemistry has led to the generation of a number of biocompatible synthetic polymers that have been increasingly studied as efficient carriers for drugs and imaging agents. Synthetic biocompatible polymers have been used to improve the efficacy of both small-molecular-weight therapeutics and imaging agents. Furthermore, multiple targeted anticancer agents and/or imaging reporters can be attached to a single polymer chain, allowing multifunctional and/or multimodality therapy and molecular imaging. Having both an anticancer drug and an imaging reporter in a single polymer chain allows noninvasive real-time visualization of the pharmacokinetics of polymeric drug delivery systems, which can uncover and explain the complicated mechanisms of in vivo drug delivery and their correlation to pharmacodynamics. This review examines the use of the synthetic biocompatible polymer poly(L-glutamic acid) (PG) as an efficient carrier of cancer therapeutics and imaging agents. This review summarizes and updates our recent research on the use of PG as a platform for drug delivery and molecular imaging, including recent clinical findings with respect to PG-paclitaxel (PG-TXL), the combination of PG-TXL with radiotherapy, mechanisms of action of PG-TXL, and noninvasive visualization of in vivo delivery of polymeric conjugates with contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging, optical imaging, and multimodality imaging.     

Multimodal imaging of neural progenitor cell fate in rodents

For clinical application of stem cell-based therapies, noninvasive detection of applied stem cells is of high importance. We report on the feasibility of detecting implanted neural progenitor cells (NPCs) noninvasively and follow their fate and functional status by sequential multimodal molecular imaging and reporter gene technology. We investigated C17.2 cells stably expressing herpes simplex virus type 1-thymidine kinase (HSV-1-tk) and green fluorescent protein (gfp) (C17.2-tkIRESgfp = C17.2-TIG) or HSV-1-tk, gfp, and firefly luciferase (luc) (C17.2-lucIREStkgfp = C17.2-LITG) and determined the detection sensitivity of positron emission tomography (PET) and bioluminescence imaging (BLI) for these cells in culture and in vivo in subcutaneous and intracranial glioma models. In addition, PET and BLI were used to further investigate and follow the fate of implanted C17.2-LITG cells in an intracranial glioma model. We show that both imaging modalities are sensitive in detecting reporter gene expressing NPCs; however, PET, by the use of 9-[4-[(18)F]fluoro-3-hydroxymethyl)butyl]guanine ([(18)F]FHBG), detects NPCs only at sites of disrupted blood-brain barrier. Furthermore, both imaging modalities can be used to detect stem cell fate and migration and indicate excessive proliferation and aberrant migration. In conclusion, multimodal imaging can be used for longitudinal noninvasive monitoring of grafted NPCs in rodents.     

Molecular imaging of cell-mediated cancer immunotherapy

New strategies based on the activation of a patient's immune response are being sought to complement present conventional exogenous cancer therapies. Elucidating the trafficking pathways of immune cells in vivo, together with their migratory properties in relation to their differentiation and activation status, is useful for understanding how the immune system interacts with cancer. Methods based on tissue sampling to monitor immune responses are inadequate for repeatedly characterizing the responses of the immune system in different organs. A solution to this problem might come from molecular and cellular imaging - a branch of biomedical sciences that combines biotechnology and imaging methods to characterize, in vivo, the molecular and cellular processes involved in normal and pathologic states. The general concepts of noninvasive imaging of targeted cells as well as the technology and probes applied to cell-mediated cancer immunotherapy imaging are outlined in this review.     

Fiber-optic fluorescence imaging

Optical fibers guide light between separate locations and enable new types of fluorescence imaging. Fiber-optic fluorescence imaging systems include portable handheld microscopes, flexible endoscopes well suited for imaging within hollow tissue cavities and microendoscopes that allow minimally invasive high-resolution imaging deep within tissue. A challenge in the creation of such devices is the design and integration of miniaturized optical and mechanical components. Until recently, fiber-based fluorescence imaging was mainly limited to epifluorescence and scanning confocal modalities. Two new classes of photonic crystal fiber facilitate ultrashort pulse delivery for fiber-optic two-photon fluorescence imaging. An upcoming generation of fluorescence imaging devices will be based on microfabricated device components.     

Bioartificial kidney. I. Theoretical analysis of convective flow in hollow fiber modules: application to a bioartificial hemofilter

Analytical expressions describing convective flow in a continuous arteriovenous hollow fiber hemofilter were developed. In the lumen of the hollow fiber membrane, existing analytical expressions were applied to describe velocity profiles and pressure. For flow in the shell (the extracapillary space separating the fibers), analytical expressions for the radial and axial velocity profiles and pressure distribution were derived by first finding the stream function. The expressions are based on a similarity solution. Previous analyses of ultrafiltration have either ignored osmotic pressure or assumed constant shell pressure. In this paper, the axial variation in lumen pressure, shell pressure, and osmotic pressure were accounted for. The predicted filtration rates agree well with the experimental results. This flow model is general enough to describe flow in hollow fiber membrane systems employed as bioreactors (e.g., for cell cultures and as bioartificial organs) and as separators (e.g., ultrafiltration and microfiltration) operating in the open-shell mode. The results were applied to determine the design of an optimally functioning bioartificial hemofilter for use ex vivo or in vivo.     

Molecular imaging of protein kinases

Protein kinases are important regulators of signal-transduction pathways. Dysregulated kinase activity is observed in a variety of human diseases such as cancer, making them targets for the development of molecular therapies. Identification of new drugs is greatly aided by molecular imaging tools which enable real time, non-invasive, dynamic and quantitative imaging of kinase activity in vivo. We have recently described a new reporter platform based on conformation dependent complementation of firefly luciferase to monitor serine/threonine kinase (Akt) activity. The reporter system provides unique insights into the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of drugs that modulate kinase activity in living subjects and also provide a platform for cell based high-throughput drug screening for modulators of kinase activity.     

Visualizing protein-protein interactions in living animals

A variety of techniques have been developed to analyze protein-protein interactions in vitro and in cultured cells. However, these methods do not determine how protein interactions affect and are regulated by physiologic and pathophysiologic conditions in living animals. This article describes methodology for detecting and quantifying protein interactions in living mice, using an inducible two-hybrid system developed for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging. We discuss the methods to establish stably transfected cells with components of the imaging system, create tumor xenografts, synthesize PET radiopharmaceuticals used to visualize the imaging reporter, perform microPET imaging, and analyze data from imaging studies. Development and application of technologies for molecular imaging of protein-protein interactions in vivo should enable researchers to investigate intrinsic binding specificities of proteins during normal development and disease progression as well as aid drug development through direct interrogation of molecular targets within intact animals.     

Multimodality molecular imaging of disease progression in living subjects

The enormous advances in our understanding of the progression of diseases at the molecular level have been supplemented by the new field of ‘molecular imaging’, which provides for in vivo visualization of molecular events at the cellular level in living organisms. Molecular imaging is a noninvasive assessment of gene and protein function, protein–protein interaction and/or signal transduction pathways in animal models of human disease and in patients to provide insights into molecular pathogenesis. Five major imaging techniques are currently available to assess the structural and functional alterations in vivo in small animals. These are (i) optical bioluminescence and fluorescence imaging techniques, (ii) radionuclide-based positron emission tomography (PET) and single photon emitted computed tomography (SPECT), (iii) X-ray-based computed tomography (CT), (iv) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and (v) ultrasound imaging (US). Functional molecular imaging requires an imaging probe that is specific for a given molecular event. In preclinical imaging, involving small animal models, the imaging probe could be an element of a direct (‘direct imaging’) or an indirect (‘indirect imaging’) event. Reporter genes are essential for indirect imaging and provide a general integrated platform for many different applications. Applications of multimodality imaging using combinations of bioluminescent, fluorescent and PET reporter genes in unified fusion vectors developed by us for recording events from single live cells to whole animals with high sensitivity and accurate quantification are discussed. Such approaches have immense potential to track progression of metastasis, immune cell trafficking, stem cell therapy, transgenic animals and even molecular interactions in living subjects.     

In vivo testing of a bioresorbable phosphate‐based optical fiber

Optical fibers have recently attracted a noticeable interest for biomedical applications because they provide a minimally invasive method for in vivo sensing, imaging techniques, deep‐tissue photodynamic therapy or optogenetics. The silica optical fibers are the most commonly used because they offer excellent optical properties, and they are readily available at a reasonable price. The fused silica is a biocompatible material, but it is not bioresorbable so it does not decompose in the body and the fibers must be ex‐planted after in vivo use and their fragments can present a considerable risk to the patient when the fiber breaks. In contrast, optical fibers made of phosphate glasses can bring many benefits because such glasses exhibit good transparency in ultraviolet‐visible and near‐infrared regions, and their solubility in water can be tailored by changing the chemical composition. The bioresorbability and toxicity of phosphate glass–based optical fibers were tested in vivo on male laboratory rats for the first time. The fiber was spliced together with a standard graded‐index multi‐mode fiber pigtail and an optical probe for in vitro pH measurement was prepared by the immobilization of a fluorescent dye on the fiber tip by a sol‐gel method to demonstrate applicability and compatibility of the fiber with common fiber optics.      

Thermostability of firefly luciferases affects efficiency of detection by in vivo bioluminescence

Luciferase from the North American firefly (Photinis pyralis) is a useful reporter gene in vivo, allowing noninvasive imaging of tumor growth, metastasis, gene transfer, drug treatment, and gene expression. Luciferase is heat labile with an in vitro halflife of approximately 3 min at 37 degrees C. We have characterized wild type and six thermostabilized mutant luciferases. In vitro, mutants showed half-lives between 2- and 25-fold higher than wild type. Luciferase transfected mammalian cells were used to determine in vivo half-lives following cycloheximide inhibition of de novo protein synthesis. This showed increased in vivo thermostability in both wild-type and mutant luciferases. This may be due to a variety of factors, including chaperone activity, as steady-state luciferase levels were reduced by geldanamycin, an Hsp90 inhibitor. Mice inoculated with tumor cells stably transfected with mutant or wild-type luciferases were imaged. Increased light production and sensitivity were observed in the tumors bearing thermostable luciferase. Thermostable proteins increase imaging sensitivity. Presumably, as more active protein accumulates, detection is possible from a smaller number of mutant transfected cells compared to wild-type transfected cells.     

Protein adsorption in polysulfone hollow fiber bioreactors used for serum-free mammalian cell culture

The recovery of serum-free medium proteins from poly-sulfone hollow fiber bioreactors (HFBRs) was investigated. More than 99% of the initial transferrin was adsorbed to the hydrophobic hollow fibers within 2 h of HFBR operation. A methodology to minimize transferrin adsorption by pre-adsorption of bovine serum albumin (BSA) was developed. BSA adsorption on suspended cut fibers was virtually complete within 1 h. BSA-coated fibers adsorbed only 5% of the transferrin within 10 days, whereas uncoated cut fibers adsorbed more than 99% of the transferrin within 1 h. An improved HFBR startup procedure, using a BSA-coating step before inoculation, resulted in substantially higher transferrin recovery. Additional factors influenced extracapillary space (ECS) transferrin concentrations. Pronounced downstream polarization of transferrin was observed in the ECS. In addition, the 30-kDa nominal molecular weight cutoff ultrafiltration membranes rapidly leaked transferrin from the ECS to the lumen. (c) 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Noninvasive optical imaging of ovarian metastases using Cy5-labeled RAFT-c(-RGDfK-)4

Our group has developed a new molecular tool based on the use of a regioselectively addressable, functionalized template (RAFT) scaffold, where four cyclic (Arg-Gly-Asp) (cRGD) peptide motifs were grafted. The aim of this study was to determine whether RAFT-c(-RGDfK-)4 combined with optical imaging could allow noninvasive detection of deep ovarian metastases. Human ovarian adenocarcinoma IGROV1 cells expressing low levels of integrin alphaVbeta3 (the main receptor for the cRGD peptide) were used for in vitro and in vivo assays in combination with Cy5-labeled RAFT-c(-RGDfK-)4, cRGD, or RAFT-c(-RbetaADfK-)4. In vivo fluorescence imaging was performed on subcutaneous (SC) tumors and intraperitoneal IGROV1 metastases in nude mice. The accumulation of RGD-Cy5 conjugates in cultured cells or in tumor tissues was examined using confocal laser scanning microscopy. RAFT-c(-RGDfK-)4 exhibited stronger staining in vitro, enhanced tumor-to-background ratio for sc tumors, and allowed early detection of 1- to 5-mm large intraabdominal nodules using noninvasive optical imaging. Histological study revealed that RAFT-c(-RGDfK-)4 accumulated into tumor neovasculature but also into tumor cells. Our data demonstrate that a Cy5-labeled RAFT-c(-RGDfK-)4 is an efficient optical probe for early and noninvasive tumor detection.     

Increased curvature of hollow fiber membranes could up‐regulate differential functions of renal tubular cell layers

Tissue engineering devices as in vitro cell culture systems in scaffolds has encountered the bottleneck due to their much lower cell functions than real tissues/organs in vivo. Such situation has been improved in some extent by mimicking the cell microenvironments in vivo from either chemical or physical ways. However, microenvironmental curvature, commonly seen in real tissues/organs, has never been manipulated to regulate the cell performance in vitro. In this regard, this paper fabricated polysulfone membranes with or without polyethylene glycol modification to investigate the impact of curvature on two renal tubular cells. Regardless the varying membrane curvatures among hollow fiber membranes of different diameters and flat membrane of zero curvature, both renal cells could well attach at 4 h of seeding and form similar confluent layers at 6 days on each membrane. Nevertheless, the renal cells on hollow fibers, though showing confluent morphology as those on flat membranes, expressed higher renal functions and, moreover, the renal functions significantly increased with the membrane curvature among hollow fibers. Such upregulation on functions was unassociated with mass transport barrier of hollow fibers, because the cultures on lengthwise cut hollow fibers without mass transfer barrier showed same curvature effect on renal functions as whole hollow fibers. It could be proposed that the curvature of hollow fiber membrane approaching to the large curvature in kidney tubules increased the mechanical stress in the renal cells and thus might up‐regulate the renal cell functions. In conclusion, the increase of substrate curvature could up‐regulate the cell functions without altering the confluent cell morphology and this finding will facilitate the design of functional tissue engineering devices. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2013; 110: 2173–2183. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A radial flow hollow fiber bioreactor for the large-scale culture of mammalian cells

A radial flow hollow fiber bioreactor has been developed that maximizes the utilization of fiber surface for cell growth while eliminating nutrient and metabolic gradients inherent in conventional hollow fiber cartridges. The reactor consists of a central flow distributor tube surrounded by an annular bed of hollow fibers. The central flow distributor tube ensures an axially uniform radial convective flow of nutrients across the fiber bed. Cells attach and proliferate on the outer surface of the fibers. The fibers are pretreated with polylysine to facilitate cell attachment and long-term maintenance of tissuelike densities of cell mass. A mixture of air and CO(2) is fed through the tube side of the hollow fibers, ensuring direct oxygenation of the cells and maintenance of pH. Spent medium diffuses across the cell layer into the tube side of the fibers and is convected away along with the spent gas stream. The bioreactor was run as a recycle reactor to permit maximum utilization of nutrient medium. A bioreactor with a membrane surface area of 1150 cm(2) was developed and H1 cells were grown to a density of 7.3 x 10(6) cells/cm(2).     

Combined in vivo confocal Raman spectroscopy and confocal microscopy of human skin

In vivo confocal Raman spectroscopy is a noninvasive optical method to obtain detailed information about the molecular composition of the skin with high spatial resolution. In vivo confocal scanning laser microscopy is an imaging modality that provides optical sections of the skin without physically dissecting the tissue. A combination of both techniques in a single instrument is described. This combination allows the skin morphology to be visualized and (subsurface) structures in the skin to be targeted for Raman measurements. Novel results are presented that show detailed in vivo concentration profiles of water and of natural moisturizing factor for the stratum corneum that are directly related to the skin architecture by in vivo cross-sectional images of the skin. Targeting of skin structures is demonstrated by recording in vivo Raman spectra of sweat ducts and sebaceous glands in situ. In vivo measurements on dermal capillaries yielded high-quality Raman spectra of blood in a completely noninvasive manner. From the results of this exploratory study we conclude that the technique presented has great potential for fundamental skin research, pharmacology (percutaneous transport), clinical dermatology, and cosmetic research, as well as for noninvasive analysis of blood analytes, including glucose.     

Angular smoothing and radial regularization of ODF fields: Application on deterministic crossing fiber tractography

The advent of high angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI) has opened up new perspectives for the delineation of crossing and branching fiber pathways. However, image acquisition under clinical conditions with limited measurement time faces the problem of poor spatial and angular resolution and the technique’s high susceptibility to noise. In this paper we present a straightforward spatial filter for ODF fields that uses the data-inherent structural information around a voxel as part of a directionally selective method for angular smoothing and radial regularization (ASRR). Especially in regions where fibers cross (multimodal voxels), the method allows us to reduce noise, improve the accuracy of ODF diffusion peaks, and strengthen signals of non-dominant fibers. Moreover, we propose a dynamic scheme in which regularization is applied only to ODFs classified as multimodal. The approach is quantitatively evaluated on synthetic datasets of various configurations. With an in vivo dataset of a human subject, measured under clinical imaging conditions, we demonstrate the method’s ability to improve tractography of non-dominant transcallosal fiber pathways and the long fibers of the superior longitudinal fasciculus.