AgingResearch.NewsJoin free
Chemical Engineering Journal

Engineered cell packages sped bone regrowth in aged rats

Cell-released packages carrying genetic instructions and an antioxidant accelerated bone regeneration in experiments on aged rats with osteoporosis and skull defects.

Paper by Yukun Jia, Yafei Zhu, Yingtao Duan, +3 more authorsJun Zhang
Graphical abstract from Chemical Engineering Journal
Open the figure at full size
Graphical abstract. Jia et al.

Our read

Interventions
Studied:
Experiments in aged osteoporotic rats with skull defects
What changed:
Engineered cell packages sped bone regrowth in aged osteoporotic rats with skull defects
The catch:
Bone repair was assessed in skull defects, not fracture injuries
Why it’s aging research:
It studies organisms or tissues that aged naturally.

Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News

Paper
Follow @agingbrief

Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells, which can form bone, and bone tissue from 2-month-old and 20-month-old Sprague-Dawley rats were compared in laboratory experiments. Older cells had less TSPAN9, a protein involved in forming migrasomes—structures that help dispose of material from mitochondria, the cell’s energy-producing components. Older cells also had impaired mitochondrial function and a reduced ability to develop into bone-forming cells. Increasing TSPAN9 restored mitochondrial function and bone-forming capacity.

The researchers engineered exosomes, tiny packages released by cells, to carry genetic instructions for TSPAN9 and an antioxidant targeted to mitochondria. In cell experiments, these packages reduced stress from reactive molecules in mitochondria and promoted development into bone-forming cells. In aged rats with osteoporosis and skull defects, they accelerated bone regeneration.

Why it matters

Age-related decline in bone marrow stem cells impairs bone repair in osteoporosis. The findings suggest that supporting mitochondrial maintenance may offer a strategy for addressing that decline.

Caveats

The animal tests addressed skull defects in aged osteoporotic rats, not fracture healing in people.

Where the evidence stands

MitoQ

Cells and mice: replicated by independent labs. Humans: a single group. Worms or flies: nothing yet.

C, W, M, H: cells, worms or flies, mice, humans. Dark: independent labs found the same change there. Light: one lab or one study. Outline: nothing yet.

Labs are independent when their papers share no last author and no institution.

Against: findings that point the other way from most findings on the same outcome.

No results posted: trials that ended over a year ago with no results on ClinicalTrials.gov and no paper reporting them.

Company ties: findings with an author at a company, or from a paper whose competing-interests statement declares ties to one.

  • 10 independent labs in 4 countries
  • 1 finding against
  • 19 trials, 4 with no results posted
  • Funders: National Institute on Aging and others
  • 4 of 29 findings with company ties
  • 3 of 19 trials sponsored by its developers

Angiogenesis

Cells, mice and humans: replicated by independent labs. Worms or flies: nothing yet.

C, W, M, H: cells, worms or flies, mice, humans. Dark: independent labs found the same change there. Light: one lab or one study. Outline: nothing yet.

Labs are independent when their papers share no last author and no institution.

Against: findings that point the other way from most findings on the same outcome.

Company ties: findings with an author at a company, or from a paper whose competing-interests statement declares ties to one.

Includes the processes named after it and trials of drugs aimed at it.

  • 212 independent labs in 33 countries
  • 17 findings against
  • Funders: National Natural Science Foundation of China and others
  • 26 of 416 findings with company ties

Comments

Be the first to comment.

More on Angiogenesis