Senescent cultures of human dermal fibroblasts modified phenotype when immobilized in fibrin polymer

Cristian A. Acevedo, Donald I. Brown, Manuel E. Young, Juan G. Reyes

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

One of the limitations in tissue engineering is the restricted ability to expand the number of cells, because somatic cells can duplicate a limited number of times before they lose the ability to divide, leading to a senescent state. Here we report that the interaction of senescent fibroblasts with fibrin polymer can modify the senescent phenotype and partially restore the ability of growth-arrested cells to continue replicating. Primary human dermal fibroblasts were grown to >90% SA/β-Gal (senescence associated β-galactosidase) . The senescent cells were immobilized in fibrin-polymers by mixing fibrinogen and thrombin solutions. Immobilized senescent cell cultures grew, however, their growth arrested after 24 h of immobilization. The percentage of cells with a positive reaction at SA/β-Gal did not decrease significantly after immobilization, but the intensity of the stain decreased. The glycolytic activity in immobilized senescent fibroblast was re-established at pre-senescent levels. In conclusion, fibrin induces changes in the phenotype of senescent human fibroblasts. This simple procedure could complement available tissue-engineering techniques to increase the amount of biomass seeded on a fibrin scaffold, which could be beyond senescence.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1929-1942
Number of pages14
JournalJournal of Biomaterials Science, Polymer Edition
Volume20
Issue number13
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Sep 2009

Keywords

  • Fibrin
  • Human fibroblasts
  • Immobilization
  • Senescence

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