@article{DeiningerWagnerHeimeletal.,
  author    = {Deininger, Christian and Wagner, Andrea and Heimel, Patrick and Salzer, Elias and Monforte Vila, Xavier and Weißenbacher, Nadja and Grillari, Johannes and Redl, Heinz and Wichlas, Florian and Freude, Thomas and Tempfer, Herbert and Teuschl-Woller, Andreas and Traweger, Andreas},
  title     = {Enhanced BMP-2-Mediated Bone Repair Using an Anisotropic Silk Fibroin Scaffold Coated with Bone-like Apatite},
  series = {Int. J. Mol. Sci.},
  volume    = {23},
  journal   = {Int. J. Mol. Sci.},
  number    = {1 / 283},
  abstract  = {The repair of large bone defects remains challenging and often requires graft material due to limited availability of autologous bone. In clinical settings, collagen sponges loaded with excessive amounts of bone morphogenetic protein 2 (rhBMP-2) are occasionally used for the treatment of bone non-unions, increasing the risk of adverse events. Therefore, strategies to reduce rhBMP-2 dosage are desirable. Silk scaffolds show great promise due to their favorable biocompatibility and their utility for various biofabrication methods. For this study, we generated silk scaffolds with axially aligned pores, which were subsequently treated with 10× simulated body fluid (SBF) to generate an apatitic calcium phosphate coating. Using a rat femoral critical sized defect model (CSD) we evaluated if the resulting scaffold allows the reduction of BMP-2 dosage to promote efficient bone repair by providing appropriate guidance cues. Highly porous, anisotropic silk scaffolds were produced, demonstrating good cytocompatibility in vitro and treatment with 10× SBF resulted in efficient surface coating. In vivo, the coated silk scaffolds loaded with a low dose of rhBMP-2 demonstrated significantly improved bone regeneration when compared to the unmineralized scaffold. Overall, our findings show that this simple and cost-efficient technique yields scaffolds that enhance rhBMP-2 mediated bone healing.},
  subject      = {Tissue Engineering},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{JohannesWeihsKarneretal.,
  author    = {Johannes, Hackethal and Weihs, Anna and Karner, Lisa and Metzger, Magdalena and Dungel, Peter and Hennerbichler, Simone and Redl, Heinz and Teuschl-Woller, Andreas Herbert},
  title     = {Novel Human Placenta-Based Extract for Vascularization Strategies in Tissue Engineering},
  series = {Tissue Eng Part C Methods},
  volume    = {27},
  journal   = {Tissue Eng Part C Methods},
  number    = {11},
  pages     = {616 -- 632},
  abstract  = {There is critical unmet need for new vascularized tissues to support or replace injured tissues and organs. Various synthetic and natural materials were already established for use of two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) in vitro neovascularization assays, however, they still cannot mimic the complex functions of the sum of the extracellular matrix (ECM) in native intact tissue. Currently, this issue is only addressed by artificial products such as Matrigel™, which comprises a complex mixture of ECM proteins, extracted from animal tumor tissue. Despite its outstanding bioactivity, the isolation from tumor tissue hinders its translation into clinical applications. Since nonhuman ECM proteins may cause immune reactions, as are frequently observed in clinical trials, human ECM proteins represent the best option when aiming for clinical applications. Here, we describe an effective method of isolating a human placenta substrate (hpS) that induces the spontaneous formation of an interconnected network of green fluorescence-labeled human umbilical vein endothelial cells (gfpHUVECs) in vitro. The substrate was biochemically characterized by using a combination of bicinchoninic acid (BCA) assay, DNA, and glycosaminoglycan (GAG) content assays, sodium dodecyl sulfate/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) analysis and Western blot, angiogenesis arrays, chromatographic thrombin detection, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-based amino acid quantification analysis, and assessment of antimicrobial properties. 2D in vitro cell culture experiments have been performed to determine the vasculogenic potential of hpS, which demonstrated that cell networks developed on hpS show a significantly higher degree of complexity (number of tubules/junctions; total/mean tube length) when compared with Matrigel. As 3D cell culture techniques represent a more accurate representation of the in vivo condition, the substrate was 3D solidified using various natural polymers. 3D in vitro vasculogenesis assays have been performed by seeding gfpHUVECs in an hpS-fibrinogen clot. In conclusion, hpS provides a potent human/material-based alternative to xenogenic-material-based biomaterials for vascularization strategies in tissue engineering.},
  subject      = {Tissue Engineering},
  language  = {en}
}