Lucia Slovinska - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Lucia Slovinska

Scientific Reports

Recently, there is a growing interest in the research based on extracellular vesicles (EVs) which... more Recently, there is a growing interest in the research based on extracellular vesicles (EVs) which represent paracrine factors secreted by almost all cell types. Both, normal and pathological cells are able to release various types of EVs with different physiological properties, functions and compositions. EVs play an important role in intercellular communication, mechanism and tissue repair. Moreover, EVs could help not only in the treatment of diseases but also in their diagnostics. This work focused on the evaluation of the potential of EVs being used as biomarkers for the diagnosis of osteoarthritis (OA) based on a comparison of the composition of EVs separated from platelet-poor plasma (PPP) of healthy donors and OA patients at different stages of OA. OA is established as a complex syndrome with extensive impact on multiple tissues within the synovial joint. It is a chronic disease of musculoskeletal system that mainly affects the elderly. Depending on the use of the Kellgren–La...

Scientific Reports, Sep 8, 2015

Spinal cord injury (SCI) has been implicated in neural cell loss and consequently functional moto... more Spinal cord injury (SCI) has been implicated in neural cell loss and consequently functional motor and sensory impairment. In this study, we propose an alginate-based neurobridge enriched with/without trophic growth factors (GFs) that can be utilized as a therapeutic approach for spinal cord repair. The bioavailability of key GFs, such as Epidermal Growth factor (EGF) and basic Fibroblast Growth Factor (bFGF) released from injected alginate biomaterial to the central lesion site significantly enhanced the sparing of spinal cord tissue and increased the number of surviving neurons (choline acetyltransferase positive motoneurons) and sensory fibres. In addition, we document enhanced outgrowth of corticospinal tract axons and presence of blood vessels at the central lesion. Tissue proteomics was performed at 3, 7 and 10 days after SCI in rats indicated the presence of antiinflammatory factors in segments above the central lesion site, whereas in segments below, neurite outgrowth factors, inflammatory cytokines and chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan of the lectican protein family were overexpressed. Collectively, based on our data, we confirm that functional recovery was significantly improved in SCI groups receiving alginate scaffold with affinity-bound growth factors (ALG +GFs), compared to SCI animals without biomaterial treatment. Spinal cord injury (SCI) involves a multifactorial process that initiates pathological cellular and molecular responses resulting in limited spontaneous axonal regeneration 1. Clinical symptoms following trauma can vary in severity, but usually lead to complete paralysis and spasticity 1-4. The development of a safe and efficient treatment for spinal cord injuries is greatly complicated by the existence of a highly complex injury environment. Over the past decades various strategies have been proposed including inflammatory processes and suppression of edema 5,6 , promotion of axonal regeneration through the decrease of inhibitory molecules 7-9 , transplantation of stem cells to replace lost tissue, or enhancement of endogenous repair with trophic factor support and rehabilitative training 10-12. All these strategies were developed to target specific pathological players during secondary damage, whereas nowadays a combinatorial approach integrating biomaterial scaffolds, cell transplantation and molecule delivery seems to be more promising for regeneration and functional recovery 13-16. An attractive strategy for repairing injured spinal cord is to incorporate multiple neurotrophic factors in biodegradable and biocompatible microspheres, or injectable matrices that allow controlled, sustained and localized delivery of those factors 17,18. The alginate scaffold is a suitable biomaterial construct providing a cellular mechanical framework of polysaccharide chains that gels by ionic cross linking after mixing aqueous alginate solution with divalent cations such as Ca 2+19. Natural substrate isolated from the wall

Research Square (Research Square), Apr 27, 2023

Cell death is an essential process occurring during the development of the central nervous system... more Cell death is an essential process occurring during the development of the central nervous system. Despite the availability of wide range of commercially produced antibodies against various apoptotic markers, data regarding the apoptosis in intact spinal cord during postnatal development and adulthood are mostly missing. This study aimed to investigate the apoptosis in the rat spinal cord at different stages of ontogenesis (8, 29 and 90 postnatal days). For this purpose, we used immunofluorescent detection of two widely used apoptotic markers, activated caspase-3 (aC3) and cleaved PARP (cPARP). Surprisingly, we found significant discrepancy between the amounts of aC3+ cells and PARP+ cells, varying with ratio around 500:1–5,000:1 in the rat spinal cord in all postnatal time points. Majority of aC3+ cells were glial cells and did not exhibit apoptotic phenotype. In contrast with the results of in vivo study, in vitro analysis of primary cell culture derived from neonatal rat spinal cord, treated with apoptotic inductor staurosporine, revealed similar onset of occurrence of both markers in cells subjected to apoptosis. Gene expression analysis of spinal cord tissue revealed elevated expression of Birc4 (XIAP), Birc2 and Birc5 (Survivin) genes, which are known as potent inhibitors of apoptosis. Our data indicates that the activated caspase-3 is not an exclusive marker of apoptosis, especially in glial cells, due its possible presence in inhibited forms and/or its participation in other, non-apoptotic roles. Therefore, in the light of our recent results, cPARP appears to be more appropriate marker for detection of apoptosis.

PubMed, Dec 1, 2021

For almost three decades, neural stem cells remain still up-to-date and enigmatic topic. The main... more For almost three decades, neural stem cells remain still up-to-date and enigmatic topic. The main problem for their studying is the non-existence of an exclusive neural stem cell marker and the heterogeneity of them across the nervous system. As one of the novel markers of neural stem/progenitor cells may serve telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT), a catalytic subunit of the telomerase enzyme, responsible for retaining the cell immortality. Thus, the aim of our study was to reveal if TERT, as an enzyme for ensuring the immortality of proliferating cells, could be used as a potential marker of neural stem/progenitor cells during the ontogenesis of the rat central nervous system. In this study, we used various markers related to neural stem or progenitor cells character and examined their co-localization with TERT expression. Our experiments were performed on the tissue of the brain and spinal cord during several stages of postnatal development and the neural tube during the 14th embryonal day. Cytoplasmatic TERT expression was found in alar plate progenitors and ventral horn neuroblasts of E14 rats. In the postnatal stages of spinal cord ontogenesis, a cytoplasmatic expression in neurons and nuclear expression in astrocytes was defined. In the brain, nuclear TERT expression was found in neural progenitor cells of neurogenic areas. This study provides the first comparative study of TERT expression across the central nervous system ontogenesis. The nuclear presence of TERT may be used as a potential marker of neural stem/progenitor cells, however, further studies are required to confirm these assumptions.

Animals

The aim of the study was to investigate the potential of cell-based regenerative therapy for elbo... more The aim of the study was to investigate the potential of cell-based regenerative therapy for elbow joints affected by osteoarthritis. Interest was focused on two intra-articular applications of amnion-derived mesenchymal stem cells (A-MSCs) to a group of different breeds of dogs with elbow osteoarthritis (13 joints). Two injections were performed 14 days apart. We evaluated synovial fluid biomarkers, such as IFN-γ, IL-6, IL-15, IL-10, MCP-1, TNF-α, and GM-CSF, by multiplex fluorescent micro-bead immunoassay in the treated group of elbows (n = 13) (day 0, day 14, and day 28) and in the control group of elbows (n = 9). Kinematic gait analysis determined the joint range of motion (ROM) before and after each A-MSCs application. Kinematic gait analysis was performed on day 0, day 14, and day 28. Kinematic gait analysis pointed out improvement in the average range of motion of elbow joints from day 0 (38.45 ± 5.74°), day 14 (41.7 ± 6.04°), and day 28 (44.78 ± 4.69°) with statistical signi...

Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine, 2018

Peripheral nerve predegeneration has been used as a tool to improve the in vitro cultivation of S... more Peripheral nerve predegeneration has been used as a tool to improve the in vitro cultivation of Schwann cells. The process of predegeneration may be accomplished either in vivo or in vitro. In previously published studies, various predegeneration periods were used, ranging from a few days until up to 5 weeks. The present study systematically evaluated the effect of various durations of in vitro predegeneration on the efficacy of Schwann cell cultivation. The sciatic nerves of adult Wistar rats were harvested and the explanted nerve pieces were maintained in the predegeneration medium for different predegeneration periods. In group A, the dissociation was performed immediately after harvesting. In groups B, C and D, the predegeneration periods were 2, 4 and 6 weeks, respectively. During the predegeneration period, the tissue pieces were repeatedly transferred into new dishes. Afterwards, the nerve tissue was enzymatically dissociated and the cells were seeded onto a six-well culture plate at a defined density. After 3-4 days of incubation, the cultures were passaged by means of the cold jet technique and the cell cultivation was continued for another 21 days. It was observed that the cell cultures in groups A and B were rapidly overgrown by fibroblasts. In group C, numerous wells contained a highly enriched Schwann cell population that had formed a typical monolayer, but in a fraction of the dishes, cultures were debased by fibroblast overgrowth. In group D, all of the cultures had enriched Schwann cell populations. In the experiments of the present study, the positive effect of predegeneration was observed only when the predegeneration periods lasted for 4 weeks or longer. It was concluded that the longer predegeneration periods activated Schwann cells and/or depleted the fibroblast proliferation capacity.

Growth Factors Journal, Feb 24, 2023

Current Issues in Molecular Biology

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a destructive condition that results in lasting neurological damage r... more Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a destructive condition that results in lasting neurological damage resulting in disruption of the connection between the central nervous system and the rest of the body. Currently, there are several approaches in the treatment of a damaged spinal cord; however, none of the methods allow the patient to return to the original full-featured state of life before the injury. Cell transplantation therapies show great potential in the treatment of damaged spinal cords. The most examined type of cells used in SCI research are mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs). These cells are at the center of interest of scientists because of their unique properties. MSCs regenerate the injured tissue in two ways: (i) they are able to differentiate into some types of cells and so can replace the cells of injured tissue and (ii) they regenerate tissue through their powerful known paracrine effect. This review presents information about SCI and the treatments usually used, aiming a...

The influence of sustained dual-factor presentation on the expansion and differentiation of neural

doi: 10.3389/fncel.2014.00105 Alterations of protein composition along the rostro-caudal axis aft... more doi: 10.3389/fncel.2014.00105 Alterations of protein composition along the rostro-caudal axis after spinal cord injury: proteomic, in vitro and in vivo analyses

Journal of Clinical Medicine, 2021

Background: The aim of this study is to determine the effect of three doses of intra-articular in... more Background: The aim of this study is to determine the effect of three doses of intra-articular injection of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) into the osteoarthritic (OA) knee joint on the functional status and on the changes in the levels of specific OA biomarkers in blood serum. Methods: Forty patients with unilateral primary knee osteoarthritis were enrolled in this single center, prospective clinical trial. For each patient, three intra-articular PRP injections were administered one week apart. Clinical and laboratory assessment was performed before the first PRP injection (baseline), and 3 months after the third PRP application (3-month follow up). Pain in the affected knee joint was assessed with the Visual Analog Scale for Pain (VAS). Change in clinical status was evaluated with the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index Questionnaire (WOMAC). Concentrations of 19 biomarkers (EGF, Eotaxin, FGF-2, GRO, IL-10, IL-1RA, IL-8, IP-10, MCP-1, PDGF-AB/BB, RANTES, MMP-3, M...

International Journal of Molecular Sciences

There is a lack of in vitro models able to plausibly represent the inflammation microenvironment ... more There is a lack of in vitro models able to plausibly represent the inflammation microenvironment of knee osteoarthritis (OA). We analyzed the molecules released from OA tissues (synovial membrane, cartilage, infrapatellar fat pad) and investigated whether the stimulation of human synovial fibroblasts (SFs), with synthetic cytokines (IL-1β and TNF-α or IFN-γ) or conditioned media (CM) from OA tissues, influence the SFs’ response, in the sense of pro-inflammatory cytokines, chemokines, growth factors, and degradative enzymes modulation. Human SFs were obtained from OA synovial membranes. SFs and their CM were analyzed for biomarkers, proliferation rate, protein profile and gene expression, before and after stimulation. Real-time PCR and multiplex assays quantified OA-related gene expression and biomolecule production. Unlike other activators, CM from OA synovial membrane (CM-SM), significantly up-regulated all genes of interest (IL-6, IL-8, MMP-1, MMP-3, RANTES, MCP-1, TSG-6, YKL-40) ...

Current Issues in Molecular Biology, 2022

At present, there is no effective way to treat the consequences of spinal cord injury (SCI). SCI ... more At present, there is no effective way to treat the consequences of spinal cord injury (SCI). SCI leads to the death of neural and glial cells and widespread neuroinflammation with persisting for several weeks after the injury. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) therapy is one of the most promising approaches in the treatment of this injury. The aim of this study was to characterize the expression profile of multiple cytokines, chemokines, growth factors, and so-called neuromarkers in the serum of an SCI patient treated with autologous bone marrow-derived MSCs (BM-MSCs). SCI resulted in a significant increase in the levels of neuromarkers and proteins involved in the inflammatory process. BM-MSCs administration resulted in significant changes in the levels of neuromarkers (S100, GFAP, and pNF-H) as well as changes in the expression of proteins and growth factors involved in the inflammatory response following SCI in the serum of a patient with traumatic SCI. Our preliminary results encour...

International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 2021

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are of great interest to scientists due to their application in cel... more Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are of great interest to scientists due to their application in cell therapy of many diseases, as well as regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. Recently, there has been growing evidence surrounding the research based on extracellular vesicles (EVs), especially small EVs (sEVs)/exosomes derived from MSCs. EVs/exosomes can be secreted by almost all cell types and various types of EVs show multiple functions. In addition, MSCs-derived exosomes have similar characteristics and biological activities to MSCs and their therapeutic applications are considered as a safe strategy in cell-free therapy. The aim of this study was the characterization of MSCs isolated from the chorion (CHo-MSCs) of human full-term placenta, as well as the isolation and analysis of small EVs obtained from these cells. Accordingly, in this study, the ability of small EVs’ uptake is indicated by synovial fibroblasts, osteoblasts and periosteum-derived MSCs. Improvement in the un...