Fakultät für Chemie und Pharmazie
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Der Tumorsupressor APC ist in der Mehrzahl aller Fälle kolorektaler Karzinome bereits in
der initialen Phase der Karzinogenese mutiert. Diese Mutationen führen zu einer aberranten Aktivierung des Wnt-Signalweges sowie zu weiteren die Karzinogenese vorrantreibenden Aktivitäten, beispielsweise einem veränderten Migrationsverhalten. Dieser Dissertation
zu Grunde liegt die Idee, dass durch die Trunkierung des APC-Proteins aber auch Abhängigkeiten von Genaktivitäten entstehen, die zuvor entbehrlich waren. Solche synthetisch
letalen Gene sollten in einem high-content shRNA-Screen gefunden werden.
Für die Durchführung des Screens wurde ein von der SW480 Kolonkarzinomzelllinie
abgeleitetes, isogenes Zellsystem generiert, welches durch Induktion mit Doxyzyklin das
vollständige APC-Allel (FL-APC) exprimiert. Infolge dieser Expression zeigen die Zellen
einen weniger malignen Phänotyp. Dies spiegelt sich darin wider, dass die Zellen durch
FL-APC Expression in ihrer Wnt-Signalwegsaktivität eingeschränkt werden. Doxyzyklininduzierte Zellen sind schlechter in der Lage ohne Adhäsion zu proliferieren als nicht induzierte Zellen. Andererseits ist ihre Fähigkeit einem FKS-gradienten entlang zu migrieren
verbessert.
Der shRNA-Screen wurde mit der Decipher shRNA-Bibliothek durchgeführt. Diese
enthält 27.500 verschiedene shRNAs mit Interferenzaktivität gegen 5.000 mRNAs, die potentiell pharmakologisch inhibierbare Proteine kodieren. Die besten zwei Kandidaten für
eine synthetisch letale Interaktion mit trunkiertem APC, BCL2L1 und EIF2B5 wurden im
Verlauf einer Masterarbeit bzw. direkt in dieser Disseration validiert. EIF2B5 zeigte in vitro nach Depletion durch unterschiedliche shRNAs einen di erentiellen Proliferationse ekt
bei FL-APC induzierten im Vergleich zu kontrollbehandelten Zellen. Dieser di erentielle
E ekt konnte in einem weiteren Modellsystem, SW480 Zellen mit konstitutiver FL-APC
Expression, ebenfalls validiert werden.
Durch Expression einer shRNA mit Aktivität gegen EIF2B5 werden in beiden Zellsystem die unfolded protein response (UPR) Gene DDIT3 und splXBP1 aktiviert. Interessanterweise werden durch die Expression von FL-APC diese Gene reprimiert. Im Promotor
der EIF2B5-mRNA be ndet sich eine Bindestelle für MYC. Es ist denkbar, dass durch die
Expression von FL-APC eine globale Veränderung der Genexpression vorgenommen wird,
die einerseits eine Repression von EIF2B5 nach sich zieht aber andererseits eine hierdurch
ausgelöste ER-Stress Antwort verhindert. Eine Inhibition von EIF2B5 ohne diese Adaption
andererseits führt nach diesem Model zu einer UPR-aktivierten Apoptose.
In einem zweiten Projekt wurde das überraschende Verhalten von Kolonkarzinomzellen untersucht, die nach Zugabe von BEZ235, einem dualen PI3K/mTOR Inhibitor, trotz
gegenteiliger Erwartungen MYC-Proteinmengen erhöhen. Eine Repression wurde erwar-
tet, weil die Inhibition von PI3K einerseits zu einer proteasomalen Destabiliserung und
andererseits die mTOR Inhibition zu einer verringerten Synthese von MYC führen sollte.
Während bereits gezeigt werden konnte, dass durch einen FOXO-vermittelten Mechanismus MAPK-abhängig die MYC-Expression verstärkt wird, wurde in dieser Dissertation
die erwartete Translationsinhibition untersucht. BEZ235 inhibiert zwar CAP-abhängige
Translation, das MYC Protein wird jedoch aufgrund einer IRES-vermittelten Translation
weiterhin exprimiert. Silvestrol, ein Inhibitor der Helikase eIF4A andererseits interveniert
mit CAP- und IRES-abhängiger Translation und kann die MYC-Proteinkonzentrationen
verringern. Wir konnten zudem feststellen, dass die Applikation von Silvestrol auch in vivo
möglich und wirksam ist und zudem tolleriert wird. Dies gibt Anlass zur Ho nung, dass
eine Intervention der Translation auch im Menschen eine valide Strategie zur Behandlung
MYC-getriebener Tumore sein könnte.
Most proteins work in aqueous solution and the interaction with water strongly affects their structure and function. However, experimentally the motion of a specific single water molecule is difficult to trace by conventional methods, because they average over the heterogeneous solvation structure of bulk water surrounding the protein. Here, we provide a detailed atomistic picture of the water rearrangement dynamics around the –CONH– peptide linkage in the two model systems formanilide and acetanilide, which simply differ by the presence of a methyl group at the peptide linkage. The combination of picosecond pump–probe time-resolved infrared spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations demonstrates that the solvation dynamics at the molecular level is strongly influenced by this small structural difference. The effective timescales for solvent migration triggered by ionization are mainly controlled by the efficiency of the kinetic energy redistribution rather than the shape of the potential energy surface. This approach provides a fundamental understanding of protein hydration and may help to design functional molecules in solution with tailored properties.
Chemoselective poly(oxazolines) (POx) and poly[(oligo ethylene glycol) acrylates] were synthesized. An initiator was produced for the preparation of poly(oxazoline)s capable of participating in click chemistry reactions which allows the functionalization of the polymer at the α terminus which was confirmed by 1H NMR spectroscopy. The initiator was used for the polymerization of hydrophilic 2 methyl 2 oxazoline (MeOx), whereby chemoselective, alkyne functionalized polymers could be prepared for Cu-catalyzed azide–alkyne cycloaddition. The desired molecular weight could be achieved through the living, ring opening cationic polymerization and was confirmed by 1H NMR, SEC and MALDI ToF measurements. Polymers were terminated with piperidine if no further functionalization was needed, or with an ester derivate for enabling amine attachment in a subsequent step. In addition, polymers were functionalized by termination with NaN3 in order to provide the counterpart to the azide–alkyne reaction. IR spectroscopy was suitable for the azide detection. The coupling of polymers showed the reactivity and could be confirmed by SEC, 1H NMR and IR spectroscopy.
The composition of cysteine functionalized POx was completed by thiol–ene chemistry. Since the commercially available iso 2 propyl 2 oxazoline is not available for the cationic polymerization, 2 butenyl and 2 decenyl 2 oxazoline (ButenOx and DecenOx) were first prepared. The synthesis of both copolymers, based on MeOx could be confirmed by 1H NMR as well as with SEC, whereby narrow distributions with dispersities of 1.06 could be achieved. The cysteine functionalization of the copolymers was enabled by the creation of a thiazolidine component which could be synthesized by acetal and formyl protection of cysteine and subsequent functionalization with a thiol. The component enabled the reaction with a polymer by thiol–ene reaction which was started by the addition of dimethoxyphenyl-acetophenone and was catalyzed by irradiation with UV light. Both copolymers, with a shorter (polymers with BuenOx) and longer (polymers with DecenOx) hydrophobic sidechain could be functionalized. 1H NMR spectroscopic analysis showed a quantitative reaction with the thiazolidine derivate. After deprotection by acidic workup the desired, cysteine functionalized polymer could be isolated. Quantification of cysteine functions was ensured by a modified TNBSA assay, whereby the thiols were first oxidized in order to confirm an independent measurement of amine functions. Both, the TNBSA assay as well as the NMR measurement showed the desired number of cysteine residues.
The cytotoxicity of functionalized polymers with different compositions was tested by a luminescent cell viability assay (LCVA). Both, the amount of cysteine functions (5–10%) in the copolymers as well as the length of the hydrophobic side chain were varied. All polymers did not show cytotoxicity up to concentrations of 10 mg∙mL-1. The cell activity and cell numbers only decreased below 50% and 20% respectively, when copolymers with 5% cysteine and longer sidechains were measured, which was attributed to a contamination of the sample itself. The cooperation partner performed Native Chemical Ligation (NCL) with model peptides and purified the products by HPLC. A sterically non demanding peptide was synthesized, consisting of an aromatic amino acid and four glycine units. The aromatic unit was used for the quantification of the polymer–peptide conjugate in the 1H NMR spectroscopy. A polymer having five cysteine side chains has been fully implemented by NCL to a conjugate of one polymer with five peptides. A sterically more demanding peptide was additionally used and MALDI ToF measurements confirmed the successful conjugation.
Furthermore the cysteine functionalized polymer was used for nanogel synthesis. The thiol of the cysteine function was oxidized in an inverse mini-emulsion by H2O2, resulting in nanogels (~500 nm) which could be confirmed by SEM, AFM, DLS and NTA measurements.
Besides POx, oligo (ethylene glycol)acrylates (OEGA) were polymerized; by copolymerization with the reactive pentafluorophenyl acrylate (PFPA) reactive and amphiphilic polymers were obtained. The synthesis of PFPA could be confirmed spectroscopically by 1H , 19F NMR, and by FT IR. Copolymers were synthesized by RAFT polymerization with narrow dispersities. Functionalization with an amine functionalized thiazolidine led to a hydrophilic cysteine functionalized polymer after acidic deprotection. Apart from this polymer, a thioester functionalization was successfully performed by reaction of the active polymer with a cyclic amine functionalized thioester which does not release a toxic by product (such as the resulting thiol) during NCL and thus features a very high potential to replace former thioester.
The key hypothesis of this work represented the question, if mimicking the zonal composition and structural porosity of musculoskeletal tissues influences invading cells positively and leads to advantageous results for tissue engineering. Conventional approaches in tissue engineering are limited in producing monolithic “scaffolds” that provide locally variating biological key signals and pore architectures, imitating the alignment of collagenous fibres in bone and cartilage tissues, respectively. In order to fill this gap in available tissue engineering strategies, a new fabrication technique was evolved for the production of scaffolds to validate the hypothesis.
Therefore, a new solidification based platform procedure was developed. This process comprises the directional solidification of multiple flowable precursors that are “cryostructured” to prepare a controlled anisotropic pore structure. Porous scaffolds are attained through ice crystal removal by lyophilisation. Optionally, electrostatic spinning of polymers may be applied to provide an external mesh on top or around the scaffolds. A consolidation step generates monolithic matrices from multi zonal structures. To serve as matrix for tissue engineering approaches or direct implantation as medical device, the scaffold is sterilized.
An Adjustable Cryostructuring Device (ACD) was successively developed; individual parts were conceptualized by computer aided design (CAD) and assembled. During optimisation, a significant performance improvement of the ACDs accessible external temperature gradient was achieved, from (1.3 ± 0.1) K/mm to (9.0 ± 0.1) K/mm. Additionally, four different configurations of the device were made available that enabled the directional solidification of collagenous precursors in a highly controlled manner with various sample sizes and shapes.
By using alginate as a model substance the process was systematically evaluated. Cryostructuring diagraphs were analysed yielding solidification parameters, which were associated to pore sizes and alignments that were determined by image processing. Thereby, a precise control over pore size and alignment through electrical regulation of the ACD could be demonstrated.
To obtain tissue mimetic scaffolds for the musculoskeletal system, collagens and calcium phosphates had to be prepared to serve as raw materials. Extraction and purification protocols were established to generate collagen I and collagen II, while the calcium phosphates brushite and hydroxyapatite were produced by precipitation reactions.
Besides the successive augmentation of the ACD also an optimization of the processing steps was crucial. Firstly, the concentrations and the individual behaviour of respective precursor components had to be screened. Together with the insights gained by videographic examination of solidifying collagen solutions, essential knowledge was gained that facilitated the production of more complex scaffolds. Phenomena of ice crystal growth during cryostructuring were discussed. By evolutionary steps, a cryostructuring of multi-layered precursors with consecutive anisotropic pores could be achieved and successfully transferred from alginate to collagenous precursors. Finally, very smooth interfaces that were hardly detectable by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) could be attained. For the used collagenous systems, a dependency relation between adjustable processing parameters and different resulting solidification morphologies was created.
Dehydrothermal-, diisocyanate-, and carbodiimide- based cross linking methods were evaluated, whereby the “zero length” cross linking by carbodiimide was found to be most suitable. Afterwards, a formulation for the cross linking solution was elaborated, which generated favourable outcomes by application inside a reduced pressure apparatus. As a consequence, a pore collapse during wet chemical cross linking could be avoided.
Complex monolithic scaffolds featuring continuous pores were fabricated that mimicked structure and respective composition of different areas of native tissues by the presence of biochemical key stimulants. At first, three types of bone scaffolds were produced from collagen I and hydroxyapatite with appropriate sizes to fit critical sized defects in rat femurs. They either featured an isotropic or anisotropic porosity and partly also contained glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). Furthermore, meniscus scaffolds were prepared by processing two precursors with biomimetic contents of collagen I, collagen II and GAGs. Here, the pore structures were created under boundary conditions, which allowed an ice crystal growth that was nearly orthogonal to the external temperature gradient. Thereby, the preferential alignment of collagen fibres in the natural meniscus tissue could be mimicked. Those scaffolds owned appropriate sizes for cell culture in well plates or even an authentic meniscus shape and size. Finally, osteochondral scaffolds, sized to either fit well plates or perfusion reactors for cell culture, were fabricated to mimic the composition of subchondral bone and different cartilage zones. Collagen I and the resorbable calcium phosphate brushite were used for the subchondral zone, whereas the cartilage zones were composed out of collagen I, collagen II and tissue mimetic contents of GAGs. The pore structure corresponded to the one that is dominating the volume of natural osteochondral tissue.
Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and SEM were used to analyse the composition and pore structure of the individual scaffold zones, respectively. The cross section pore diameters were determined to (65 ± 25) µm, (88 ± 35) µm and(93 ± 42) µm for the anisotropic, the isotropic and GAG containing isotropic bone scaffolds. Furthermore, the meniscus scaffolds showed pore diameters of (93 ± 21) µm in the inner meniscus zone and (248 ± 63) µm inside the outer meniscus zone. Pore sizes of (82 ± 25) µm, (83 ± 29) µm and (85 ± 39) µm were present inside the subchondral, the lower chondral and the upper chondral zone of osteochondral scaffolds. Depending on the fabrication parameters, the respective scaffold zones were also found to feature a specific micro- and nanostructure at their inner surfaces.
Degradation studies were carried out under physiological conditions and resulted in a mean mass loss of (0.52 ± 0.13) %, (1.56 ± 0.10) % and (0.80 ± 0.10) % per day for bone, meniscus and osteochondral scaffolds, respectively. Rheological measurements were used to determine the viscosity changes upon cooling of different precursors. Micro computer tomography (µ-CT) investigations were applied to characterize the 3D microstructure of osteochondral scaffolds. To obtain an osteochondral scaffold with four zones of tissue mimetic microstructure alignment, a poly (D, L-lactide-co-glycolide) mesh was deposited on the upper chondral zone by electrostatic spinning. In case of the bone scaffolds, the retention / release capacity of bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2) was evaluated by an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Due to the high presence of attractive BMP binding sites, only less than 0.1 % of the initially loaded cytokine was released. The suitability of combining the cryostructuring process with 3D powder printed calcium phosphate substrates was evaluated with osteochondral scaffolds, but did not appear to yield more preferable results than the non-combined approach.
A new custom build confined compression setup was elaborated together with a suitable evaluation procedure for the mechanical characterisation under physiological conditions. For bone and cartilage scaffolds, apparent elastic moduli of (37.6 ± 6.9) kPa and (3.14 ± 0.85) kPa were measured. A similar behaviour of the scaffolds to natural cartilage and bone tissue was demonstrated in terms of elastic energy storage. Under physiological frequencies, less than 1.0 % and 0.8 % of the exerted energy was lost for bone and cartilage scaffolds, respectively. With average relaxation times of (0.613 ± 0.040) sec and (0.815 ± 0.077) sec, measured for the cartilage and bone scaffolds, they respond four orders of magnitude faster than the native tissues. Additionally, all kinds of produced scaffolds were able to withstand cyclic compression at un-physiological frequencies as high as 20 Hz without a loss in structural integrity.
With the presented new method, scaffolds could be fabricated whose extent in mimicking of native tissues exceeded the one of scaffolds producible by state of the art methods. This allowed a testing of the key hypothesis: The biological evaluation of an anisotropic pore structure in vivo revealed a higher functionality of immigrated cells and led finally to advantageous healing outcomes. Moreover, the mimicking of local compositions in combination with a consecutive anisotropic porosity that approaches native tissue structures could be demonstrated to induce zone specific matrix remodelling in stem cells in vitro. Additionally, clues for a zone specific chondrogenic stem cell differentiation were attained without the supplementation of growth factors.
Thereby, the hypothesis that an increased approximation of the hierarchically compositional and structurally anisotropic properties of musculoskeletal tissues would lead to an improved cellular response and a better healing quality, could be confirmed. With a special focus on cell free in situ tissue engineering approaches, the insights gained within this thesis may be directly transferred to clinical regenerative therapies.
No abstract available.
Rekonstitution des Chromophors und der Funktion von Bakteriorhodopsin aus Halobacterium halobium
(1976)
Ein Modell der lichtgetriebenen Protonenpumpe Bakteriorhodopsin postulierte die direkte Beteiligung der Wasserstoffe in der 4-Stellung des Cyclohexenringes des Retinalchromophors an dem Vorgang der Protonenverschiebung. Mittels Blockaden der Retroform-Bildung von Retinal durch chemische Modifizierungen des Cyclohexenringes (4-Hydroxy-Retinal, 5,6-Epoxy-Retinal) konnten nach Einbau der modifizierten Moleküle in die isolierte Purpurmembran und nach Zugabe zu Halobakterien mit unterdrückter Retinalsynthese die direkte Beteiligung des Cyclohexenringes an der Protonenpumpe mit großer Wahrscheinlichkeit ausgeschlossen werden.
Metals are the most used materials for implant devices, especially in orthopedics, but despite their long history of application issues such as material failure through wear and corrosion remain unsolved leading to a certain number of revision surgeries. Apart from the problems associated with insufficient material properties, another serious issue is an implant associated infection due to the formation of a biofilm on the surface of the material after implantation. Thus, improvements in implant technology are demanded, especially since there is a projected rise of implants needed in the future. Surface modification methods such as physical vapour deposition (PVD), oxygen diffusion hardening and electrochemical anodization have shown to be efficient methods to improve the surfaces of metallic bulk materials regarding biomedical issues. This thesis was focused on the development of functional PVD coatings that are suitable for further treatment with surface modification techniques originally developed for bulk metals. The aim was to precisely adjust the surface properties of the implant according to the targeted application to prevent possible failure mechanisms such as coating delamination, wear or the occurrence of post-operative infections.
Initially, tantalum layers with approx 5 µm thickness were deposited at elevated substrate temperatures on cp Ti by RF magnetron sputtering. Due to the high affinity of tantalum to oxygen, these coatings are known to provide a self healing capacity since the rapid oxide formation is known to close surface cracks. Here, the work aimed to reduce the abrupt change of mechanical properties between the hard and brittle coating and the ductile substrate by creating an oxygen diffusion zone. It was found that the hardness and adhesion could be significantly increased when the coatings were treated afterwards by oxygen diffusion hardening in a two step process. Firstly, the surface was oxidized at a pressure of 6.7•10-3 mbar at 350 450 °C, followed by 1-2 h annealing in oxygen-free atmosphere at the same temperature leading to a diffusion of oxygen atoms into deeper parts of the substrate as proved by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The hereby caused mechanical stress in the crystal lattice led to an increase in Vickers hardness of the Ta layers from 570 HV to over 900 HV. Investigations into the adhesion of oxygen diffusion treated samples by Rockwell measurements demonstrated an increase of critical force for coating delamination from 12 N for untreated samples up to 25 N for diffusion treated samples.
In a second approach, the development of modular targets aimed to produce functional coatings by metallic doping of titanium with biologically active agents. This was demonstrated by the fabrication of antimicrobial Ti(Ag) coatings using a single magnetron sputtering source equipped with a titanium target containing implemented silver modules under variation of bias voltage and substrate temperature. The deposition of both Ti and Ag was confirmed by X-ray diffraction and a clear correlation between the applied sputtering parameters and the silver content of the coatings was demonstrated by ICP-MS and EDX. Surface-sensitive XPS measurements revealed that higher substrate temperatures led to an accumulation of Ag in the near-surface region, while the application of a bias voltage had the opposite effect. SEM and AFM microscopy revealed that substrate heating during film deposition supported the formation of even and dense surface layers with small roughness values, which could even be enforced by applying a substrate bias voltage. Additional elution measurements using ICP-MS showed that the release kinetics depended on the amount of silver located at the film surface and hence could be tailored by variation of the sputter parameters.
In a final step, the applied Ti and Ti(Ag) coatings deposited on cp Ti, stainless steel (316L) and glass substrates were subsequently nanostructured using a self-ordering process induced by electrochemical anodization in aqueous fluoride containing electrolytes. SEM analysis showed that nanotube arrays could be grown from the Ti and Ti(Ag) coatings deposited at elevated temperatures on any substrate, whereby no influence of the substrate on nanotube morphology could be observed. EDX measurements indicated that the anodization process led to the selective etching of Ti from Ti(Ag) coating. Further experiments on coatings deposited on glass surfaces revealed that moderate substrate temperatures during deposition resulting in smooth Ti layers as determined by AFM measurements, are favorable for the generation of highly ordered nanotube arrays. Such arrays exhibited superhydrophilic behavior as proved by contact angle measurements. XRD analysis revealed that the nanostructured coatings were amorphous after anodization but could be crystallized to anatase structure by thermal treatment at temperatures of 450°C.
Adipose tissue defects and related pathologies still represent major challenges in reconstructive surgery. Based on to the paradigm ‘replace with alike’, adipose tissue is considered the ideal substitute material for damaged soft tissue [1-3]. Yet the transfer of autologous fat, particularly larger volumes, is confined by deficient and unpredictable long term results, as well as considerable operative morbidity at the donor and recipient site [4-6], calling for innovative treatment options to improve patient care.
With the aim to achieve complete regeneration of soft tissue defects, adipose tissue engineering holds great promise to provide functional, biologically active adipose tissue equivalents. Here, especially long-term maintenance of volume and shape, as well as sufficient vascularization of engineered adipose tissue represent critical and unresolved challenges [7-9]. For adipose tissue engineering approaches to be successful, it is thus essential to generate constructs that retain their initial volume in vivo, as well as to ensure their rapid vascularization to support cell survival and differentiation for full tissue regeneration [9,10]. Therefore, it was the ultimate goal of this thesis to develop volume-stable 3D adipose tissue constructs and to identify applicable strategies for sufficient vascularization of engineered constructs. The feasibility of the investigated approaches was verified by translation from in vitro to in vivo as a critical step for the advancement of potential regenerative therapies.
For the development of volume-stable constructs, the combination of two biomaterials with complementary properties was successfully implemented. In contrast to previous approaches in the field using mainly non-degradable solid structures for mechanical protection of developing adipose tissue [11-13], the combination of a cell-instructive hydrogel component with a biodegradable porous support structure of adequate texture was shown advantageous for the generation of volume-stable adipose tissue. Specifically, stable fibrin hydrogels previously developed in our group [14] served as cell carrier and supported the adipogenic development of adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) as reflected by lipid accumulation and leptin secretion. Stable fibrin gels were thereby shown to be equally supportive of adipogenesis compared to commercial TissuCol hydrogels in vitro. Using ASCs as a safe source of autologous cells [15,16] added substantial practicability to the approach. To enhance the mechanical strength of the engineered constructs, porous biodegradable poly(ε caprolactone)-based polyurethane (PU) scaffolds were introduced as support structures and shown to exhibit adequately sized pores to host adipocytes as well as interconnectivity to allow coherent tissue formation and vascularization. Low wettability and impaired cell attachment indicated that PU scaffolds alone were insufficient in retaining cells within the pores, yet cytocompatibility and differentiation of ASCs were adequately demonstrated, rendering the PU scaffolds suitable as support structures for the generation of stable fibrin/PU composite constructs (Chapter 3).
Volume-stable adipose tissue constructs were generated by seeding the pre-established stable fibrin/PU composites with ASCs. Investigation of size and weight in vitro revealed that composite constructs featured enhanced stability relative to stable fibrin gels alone. Comparing stable fibrin gels and TissuCol as hydrogel components, it was found that TissuCol gels were less resilient to degradation and contraction. Composite constructs were fully characterized, showing good cell viability of ASCs and strong adipogenic development as indicated by functional analysis via histological Oil Red O staining of lipid vacuoles, qRT-PCR analysis of prominent adipogenic markers (PPARγ, C/EBPα, GLUT4, aP2) and quantification of leptin secretion. In a pilot study in vivo, investigating the suitability of the constructs for transplantation, stable fibrin/PU composites provided with a vascular pedicle gave rise to areas of well-vascularized adipose tissue, contrasted by insufficient capillary formation and adipogenesis in constructs implanted without pedicle. The biomaterial combination of stable fibrin gels and porous biodegradable PU scaffolds was thereby shown highly suitable for the generation of volume-stable adipose tissue constructs in vivo, and in addition, the effectiveness of immediate vascularization upon implantation to support adipose tissue formation was demonstrated (Chapter 4).
Further pursuing the objective to investigate adequate vascularization strategies for engineered adipose tissue, hypoxic preconditioning was conducted as a possible approach for in vitro prevascularization. In 2D culture experiments, analysis on the cellular level illustrated that the adipogenic potential of ASCs was reduced under hypoxic conditions when applied in the differentiation phase, irrespective of the oxygen tension encountered by the cells during expansion. Hypoxic treatment of ASCs in 3D constructs prepared from stable fibrin gels similarly resulted in reduced adipogenesis, whereas endothelial CD31 expression as well as enhanced leptin and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) secretion indicated that hypoxic treatment indeed resulted in a pro-angiogenic response of ASCs. Especially the observed profound regulation of leptin production by hypoxia and the dual role of leptin as adipokine and angiogenic modulator were considered an interesting connection advocating further study. Having confirmed the hypothesis that hypoxia may generate a pro-angiogenic milieu inside ASC-seeded constructs, faster vessel ingrowth and improved vascularization as well as an enhanced tolerance of hypoxia-treated ASCs towards ischemic conditions upon implanatation may be expected, but remain to be verified in rodent models in vivo (Chapter 5).
Having previously been utilized for bone and cartilage engineering [17-19], as well as for revascularization and wound healing applications [20-22], stromal-vascular fraction (SVF) cells were investigated as a novel cell source for adipose tissue engineering. Providing cells with adipogenic differentiation as well as vascularization potential, the SVF was applied with the specific aim to promote adipogenesis and vascularization in engineered constructs in vivo. With only basic in vitro investigations by Lin et al. addressing the SVF for adipose repair to date [23], the present work thoroughly investigated SVF cells for adipose tissue construct generation in vitro, and in particular, pioneered the application of these cells for adipose tissue engineering in vivo.
Initial in vitro experiments compared SVF- and ASC-seeded stable fibrin constructs in different medium compositions employing preadipocyte (PGM-2) and endothelial cell culture medium (EGM-2). It was found that a 1:1 mixture of PGM-2 and EGM-2, as previously established for co-culture models of adipogenesis [24], efficiently maintained cells with adipogenic and endothelial potential in SVF-seeded constructs in short and long-term culture setups. Observations on the cellular level were supported by analysis of mRNA expression of characteristic adipogenic and endothelial markers. In preparation of the evaluation of SVF-seeded constructs under in vivo conditions, a whole mount staining (WMS) method, facilitating the 3D visualization of adipocytes and blood vessels, was successfully established and optimized using native adipose tissue as template (Chapter 6).
In a subcutaneous nude mouse model, SVF cells were, for the first time in vivo, elucidated for their potential to support the functional assembly of vascularized adipose tissue. Investigating the effect of adipogenic precultivation of SVF-seeded stable fibrin constructs in vitro prior to implantation on the in vivo outcome, hormonal induction was shown beneficial in terms of adipocyte development, whereas a strong vascularization potential was observed when no adipogenic inducers were added. Via histological analysis, it was proven that the developed structures were of human origin and derived from the implanted cells. Applying SVF cells without precultivation in vitro but comparing two different fibrin carriers, namely stable fibrin and TissuCol gels, revealed that TissuCol profoundly supported adipose formation by SVF cells in vivo. This was contrasted by only minor SVF cell development and a strong reduction of cell numbers in stable fibrin gels implanted without precultivation. Histomorphometric analysis of adipocytes and capillary structures was conducted to verify the qualitative results, concluding that particularly SVF cells in TissuCol were highly suited for adipose regeneration in vivo. Employing the established WMS technique, the close interaction of mature adipocytes and blood vessels in TissuCol constructs was impressively shown and via species-specific human vimentin staining, the expected strong involvement of implanted SVF cells in the formation of coherent adipose tissue was confirmed (Chapter 7).
With the development of biodegradable volume-stable adipose tissue constructs, the application of ASCs and SVF cells as two promising cell sources for functional adipose regeneration, as well as the thorough evaluation of strategies for construct vascularization in vitro and in vivo, this thesis provides valuable solutions to current challenges in adipose tissue engineering. The presented findings further open up new perspectives for innovative treatments to cure soft tissue defects and serve as a basis for directed approaches towards the generation of clinically applicable soft tissue substitutes.
Aim of this thesis was to combine the versatility of sulfur-chemistry, regarding redox-sensitivity as well as chemo- and site-specific conjugation, with multifunctionality of poly(glycidol)s as an alternative to poly(ethylene glycol).
First the homo- and copolymerizations of EEGE and AGE were performed with respect to molar-mass distribution and reaction kinetics. A detailed study was given, varying the polymerization parameters such as DP, counter ion, solvent and monomer influence. It can be concluded that in general the rates for all polymerizations are higher using K+, in contrast to Cs+, as counter ion for the active alkoxide species. Unfortunately, K+ as counter ion commonly leads to a reduced control over polymer dispersity. In this thesis it was shown that the broad molar-mass distributions might be reduced by adding the monomer in a step-wise manner. In experiments with a syringe pump, for continuously adding the monomer, a significant reduction of the dispersities could be found using K+ as counter ion.
In analogy to the oxyanionic polymerization of epoxides, the polymerization of episulfides via a thioanionic mechanism with various DPs was successful with thiols/DBU as initiator. In most experiments bimodality could be observed due to the dimerization, caused by oxidation processes by introduced oxygen during synthesis. Reducing this was successful by modifying the degassing procedure, e.g. repeated degassing cycles after each step, i.e. initiation, monomer addition and quenching. Unfortunately, it was not always possible to completely avoid the dimerization due to oxidation. Thiophenol, butanethiol, mercaptoethanol and dithiothreitol were used as thiol initiators, all being capable to initiate the polymerization. With the prediction and the narrow molar-mass distributions, the living character of the polymerization is therefore indicated.
Homo- and copolymers of poly(glycidol) were used to functionalize these polymers with side-chains bearing amines, thiols, carboxylic acids and cysteines. The cysteine side-chains were obtained using a newly synthesized thiol-functional thiazolidine. For this, cysteine was protected using a condensation reaction with acetone yielding a dimethyl-substituted thiazolidine. Protection of the ring-amine was obtained via a mixed-anhydride route using formic acid and acetic anhydride. The carboxylic acid of 2,2-dimethylthiazolidine-4-carboxylic acid was activated with CDI and cysteamine attached. The obtained crystalline mercaptothiazolidine was subjected to thiol-ene click chemistry with allyl-functional poly(glycidol). A systematic comparison of thermal- versus photo-initiation showed a much higher yield and reaction rate for the UV-light mediated thiol-ene synthesis with DMPA as photo-initiator. Hydrolysis of the protected thiazolidine-functionalities was obtained upon heating the samples for 5 d at 70 °C in 0.1 M HCl. Dialysis against acetic acid lead to cysteine-functional poly(glycidol)s, storable as the acetate salt even under non-inert atmosphere. An oxidative TNBSA assay was developed to quantify the cysteine-content without the influence of the thiol-functionality. A cooperation partner coupled C-terminal thioester peptides with the cysteine-functional poly(glycidol)s and showed the good accessibility and reactivity of the cysteines along the backbone. SDS-PAGE, HPLC and MALDI-ToF measurements confirmed the successful coupling.
This work brings forward successful implementations of ultrafast chirality-sensitive spectroscopic techniques by probing circular dichroism (CD) or optical rotation dispersion (ORD). Furthermore, also first steps towards chiral quantum control, i.e., the selective variation of the chiral properties of molecules with the help of coherent light, are presented.
In the case of CD probing, a setup capable of mirroring an arbitrary polarization state of an ultrashort laser pulse was developed. Hence, by passing a left-circularly polarized laser pulse through this setup a right-circularly polarized laser pulse is generated. These two pulse enantiomers can be utilized as probe pulses in a pump--probe CD experiment. Besides CD spectroscopy, it can be utilized for anisotropy or ellipsometry spectroscopy also. Within this thesis, the approach is used to elucidate the photochemistry of hemoglobin, the oxygen transporting protein in mammalian blood. The oxygen loss can be triggered with laser pulses as well, and the results of the time-resolved CD experiment suggest a cascade-like relaxation, probably through different spin states, of the metallo-porphyrins in hemoglobin.
The ORD probing was realized via the combination of common-path optical heterodyne interferometric polarimetry and accumulative femtosecond spectroscopy. Within this setup, on the one hand the applicability of this approach for ultrafast studies was demonstrated explicitly. On the other hand, the discrimination between an achiral and a racemic solution without prior spatial separation was realized. This was achieved by inducing an enantiomeric excess via polarized femtosecond laser pulses and following its evolution with the developed polarimeter. Hence, chiral selectivity was already achieved with this method which can be turned into chiral control if the polarized laser pulses are optimized to steer an enhancement of the enantiomeric excess.
Furthermore, within this thesis, theoretical prerequisites for anisotropy-free pump--probe experiments with arbitrary polarized laser pulses were derived. Due to the small magnitude of optical chirality-sensitve signals, these results are important for any pump--probe chiral spectroscopy, like the CD probing presented in this thesis. Moreover, since for chiral quantum control the variation of the molecular structure is necessary, the knowledge about rearrangement reactions triggered by photons is necessary. Hence, within this thesis the ultrafast Wolff rearrangement of an α-diazocarbonyl was investigated via ultrafast photofragment ion spectroscopy in the gas phase. Though the compound is not chiral, the knowledge about the exact reaction mechanism is beneficial for future studies of chiral compounds.