Three-dimensional (3D) printing is a fast-developing digital technology with colossal market scope in food and nutrition technology, providing a platform for establishing unique food products with enhanced sensory and nutritional value for a particular end-user. Cultured meat is the concept of producing meat sustainably in laboratory conditions without the sacrifice of animal life and the excessive use of antibiotics. 3D printing could offer unique solutions for the vital issues of cultured meat production; particularly on regulating the protein, fat, and other nutritional content, along with providing realistic texture. This review highlights the immense benefits of 3D printing technology for the scalable and reproducible production of cultured meat products.
30 September 2016 in Journal of Nanostructure in Chemistry
The synthesis of biogenic nanoparticles from non-chemical resources has increased the drive toward understanding infection biology. Accordingly, we aimed to address the symbiotic antibiofilm effect of biogenic copper and zinc oxide nanoparticles with antimicrobials against multidrug resistant (MDR) pathogens. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) and zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) at the range from 2 to 128 µg/ml was calculated against Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogenic bacteria using a broth dilution method. Both nanoparticles have prime antibacterial activity compared with standard antibiotics (excluding against P.aeruginosa MTCC 741). A qualitative assessment of biofilm formation and collegial effect was performed using a modified test tube and the microtiter plate-based method by measuring the optical density and time kill of nanoparticles. The results demonstrated efficient antibiofilm activity of CuNPs in its lowest concentration than ZnONPs and antibiotics itself. In addition, significant enhancing antibiofilm effect was also shown by CuNPs in the presence of third generation antibiotics against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. A scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis was used to investigate the effect of the nanoparticles on morphological changes of Staphylococcus aureus. Current data highlights, biogenic CuNPs and ZnONPs could be used as an adjuvant for antibiotics in the treatment of bacterial infections.
ZNF750 controls epithelial homeostasis by regulating epidermal-differentiation genes, a role underscored by its pathogenic mutations in esophageal squamous cell cancers (SCCs). However, the precise role of ZNF750 in SCC cell biology remains unclear. In this study, we report that ZNF750 is exclusively deleted, mutated and underexpressed in human SCCs, and low ZNF750 expression is associated with poor survival. Restoration of wildtype, but not mutant ZNF750 protein uniquely inhibited the malignant phenotypes of SCC cells both in vitro and in vivo. Notably, ZNF750 promoted the expression of a long non-coding RNA (TINCR), which mediated both cancer-inhibition and differentiation-induction effects of ZNF750. In addition, ZNF750 potently suppressed cell migration by directly inhibiting the transactivation of LAMC2. Together, our findings characterize ZNF750 as a crucial SCC-specific suppressor and uncover its novel anticancer-associated functions.
Wound healing is a dynamic process that involves a series of molecular and cellular events aimed at replacing devitalized and missing cellular components and/or tissue layers. Recently, extracellular vesicles (EVs), naturally cell-secreted lipid membrane-bound vesicles laden with biological cargos including proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids, have drawn wide attention due to their ability to promote wound healing and tissue regeneration. However, current exploitation of EVs as therapeutic agents is limited by their low isolation yields and tedious isolation processes. To circumvent these challenges, bioinspired cell-derived nanovesicles (CDNs) that mimic EVs were obtained by shearing mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) through membranes with different pore sizes. Physical characterisations and high-throughput proteomics confirmed that MSC-CDNs mimicked MSC-EVs. Moreover, these MSC-CDNs were efficiently uptaken by human dermal fibroblasts and demonstrated a dose-dependent activation of MAPK signalling pathway, resulting in enhancement of cell proliferation, cell migration, secretion of growth factors and extracellular matrix proteins, which all promoted tissue regeneration. Of note, MSC-CDNs enhanced angiogenesis in human dermal microvascular endothelial cells in a 3D PEG-fibrin scaffold and animal model, accelerating wound healing in vitro and in vivo. These findings suggest that MSC-CDNs could replace both whole cells and EVs in promoting wound healing and tissue regeneration.