细胞功能测定

Left ventricular remodeling post-myocardial infarction (MI) involves a multitude of mechanisms that regulate the repair response. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a major family of proteolytic enzymes that coordinate extracellular matrix turnover. MMP-7 or MMP-9 dele ...

The inability to measure mechanical forces within cells has been limiting our understanding of how mechanical information is processed on the molecular level. In this chapter, we describe a method that allows the analysis of force propagation across distinct proteins within living cel ...

Cells generate traction forces upon adhesion to the extracellular matrix as well as to neighboring cells. These forces are important for the growth and maintenance of adhesion structures such as focal adhesions and adherens junctions, and may play roles in tissue development. Here, we desc ...

Cell shape and substrate rigidity play critical roles in regulating cell behaviors and fate. Controlling cell shape on elastic adhesive materials holds great promise for creating a physiologically relevant culture environment for basic and translational research and clinical ...

Lipid rafts are plasma membrane microdomains that serve as platforms for the assembly of proteins involved in signal transduction pathways. Given that lipid rafts are relatively resistant to cold extraction with nonionic detergents, lipid raft associated and nonassociated prot ...

F�rster resonance energy transfer (FRET) is a proximity-dependent quantum effect that allows the measurement of protein interactions and conformational changes which are invisible to traditional forms of fluorescence or electron microscopy. However, FRET experiments oft ...

Mechanical stretch is a major factor for myocardial hypertrophy and heart failure. Stretch activates mechanical sensors from cardiac myocytes, leading to a series of signal transduction cascades, which can result in cell malfunction and remodeling. It is well known that mechanical st ...

Neonatal rat ventricular myocytes (NRVM) and fibroblasts (FB) serve as in vitro models for studying fundamental mechanisms underlying cardiac pathologies, as well as identifying potential therapeutic targets. Typically, these cell types are separated using Percoll density g ...

The organization of cells is key to the proper formation and function of tissues and it appears to be dependent upon various intracellular and extracellular signals. These signals come from cell–cell interactions, as well as interactions with the surrounding extracellular milieu. In or ...

An important advance using in vitro EC tube morphogenesis and maturation models has been the development of systems using serum-free defined media. Using this approach, the growth factors and cytokines which are actually necessary for these events can be determined. The first model devel ...

Communication between the epithelial and stromal tissue layers, separated by basement membrane, is known to provide the information necessary for development, differentiation, and homeostasis. These interactions are altered in benign or malignant diseases, in particular wh ...

In vivo and ex vivo fluorescence video microscopy used to be a well-established method in life science with a variety of applications, such as in inflammation or cancer research. In this book chapter, we describe a model of in vivo fluorescence microscopy of the rat’s lung with the exclusive advanta ...

The impermeability of the blood–brain barrier (BBB) is due to a number of properties including tight junctions on adjoining endothelial cells, absence of pinocytic vesicles, and expression of multidrug transporters. Although the permeability of many chemicals can be predicted by th ...

Current methods to characterize cell–biomaterial interactions are population-based and rely on imaging or biochemical analysis of end-point biological markers. The analysis of stem cells in cultures is further challenged by the heterogeneous nature and divergent fates of stem c ...

Bone marrow (BM)-derived stem and immune cells play critical roles in maintaining the health, regeneration, and repair of many tissues. Given their important functions in tissue regeneration and therapy, tracking the dynamic behaviors of BM-derived cells has been a long-standing rese ...

Stem cell transplantation is a promising new therapeutic option in different neurological diseases. However, it is not yet possible to translate its potential from animal models to clinical application. One of the main problems of applying stem cell transplantation in clinical medium ...

The recovery of myocardial blood flow is a major indicator of the effectiveness of cell-based therapies for ischemic heart diseases including myocardial infarction. Blood flow (also called perfusion) of the heart muscle can be noninvasively measured via imaging methods such as ultra ...

Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC) are investigated as a source of authentic human cardiac cells for drug discovery and toxicological tests. Cell-based assays using automated fluorescence imaging platform and high-content analysis characterize hypertrophic and toxicity p ...

Primordial germ cells (PGCs) are unipotent cells committed to germ lineage: PGCs can only differentiate into gametes in vivo. However, upon fertilization, germ cells acquire the capacity to differentiate into all cell types in the body, including germ cells. Therefore, germ cells are thoug ...

Micro-CT offers high spatial resolution of the distribution of stem cells and provides rapid reconstruction of 3D images and quantitative volumetric analysis. Together with real-time PCR analysis, micro-CT offers the possibility to obtain a quantification of the number of cells that ...