3 documents found, page 1 of 1
Alterations of bovine nucleus pulposus cells with aging
Molinos, Maria; Fiordalisi, Morena F.; Caldeira, Joana; Almeida, Catarina R.; Barbosa, Mário A.; Gonçalves, Raquel M.Aging is one of the major etiological factors driving intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration, the main cause of low back pain. The nucleus pulposus (NP) includes a heterogeneous cell population, which is still poorly characterized. Here, we aimed to uncover main alterations in NP cells with aging. For that, bovine coccygeal discs from young (12 months) and old (10-16 years old) animals were dissected and primar...
Chitosan/γ-PGA nanoparticles-based immunotherapy as adjuvant to radiotherapy in...
Castro, Flávia; Pinto, Marta L.; Pereira, Catarina L.; Serre, Karine; Barbosa, Mário A.; Vermaelen, Karim; Gärtner, Fátima; Gonçalves, Raquel M.Radiotherapy (RT) is an essential treatment modality for several types of cancer. Despite its therapeutic potential, RT is frequently insufficient to overcome the immunosuppressive nature of the tumor microenvironment, failing to control tumor metastases. Innovative immunomodulatory strategies, like immunostimulatory biomaterials could be used to boost the immunogenic effects of RT. Herein, we addressed the syn...
Fibrinogen scaffolds with immunomodulatory properties promote in vivo bone rege...
Vasconcelos, Daniel M.; Gonçalves, Raquel M.; Almeida, Catarina R.; Pereira, Inês O.; Oliveira, Marta I.; Neves, Nuno; Silva, Andreia M.The hypothesis behind this work is that fibrinogen (Fg), classically considered a pro-inflammatory protein, can promote bone repair/regeneration. Injury and biomaterial implantation naturally lead to an inflammatory response, which should be under control, but not necessarily minimized. Herein, porous scaffolds entirely constituted of Fg (Fg-3D) were implanted in a femoral rat bone defect and investigated at tw...