| 研究実績の概要 |
Exosomes are small vesicles released by most cells and have recently attracted much focus as a very promising tool for regenerative medicine. Those vesicles have been shown to contain various proteins, messenger RNAs and micro-RNAs, and play a crucial role in cell signaling. Hydrostatic pressure (HP) is one of the main mechanical stimuli sensed by cartilage cells during joint loading in vivo and is known to affect the differentiation of cartilage, moderate pressure promoting differentiation, and excessive pressure leading to de-differentiation.
The purpose of the project is to understand how HP affects the production of cartilage exosomes and to test whether those findings can be applied to tissue engineering and the prevention of cartilage degradation in osteoarthritis.
During the first year of the project, we have optimized the method for extracting exosomes by a precipitation method, and have started the characterization of the isolated exosomes; we have shown notably that HP applied for up to 24h does not affect the quantity of exosomes released in the medium by ATDC5 cells. RNA was then extracted and characterization of the RNA species contained in the isolated exosomes is now under way.
|
