Human amniotic membrane: An option to the treatment of Achilles tendon induced tendinopathy

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Luciana Barros Sant’Anna, Mariana de Castro Nicodemo, Lia Renó das Neves, Josafa Carvalho Aguiar, Flaviane de Souza Brito, Isabelle Ferreira, Leandro José Raniero, Paulo RoxoBarja and Emilia Angela Loschiavo Arisawa

University of Paraíba Valley, Brazil

: J Regen Med

Abstract

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Human placenta at term which is usually discarded as medical waste has attracted much attention as a source of tissues and stem/progenitor cells for research and potential clinical applications. The anti-inflammatory, anti-scarring and wound healing properties of amniotic membrane (AM) could make her useful for development of new therapeutic approaches in regenerative medicine and warrant studies of their effects in animal models of inflammatory and fibrotic pathologies. Biliary fibrosis and resultant cirrhosis are among the most common outcome of chronic liver disease. Currently, liver transplantation remains the only effective treatment. Here, we investigated if the intact hAM has the capacity to reduce a well-established liver fibrosis induced in rat by bile duct ligation (BDL) model. After 2 weeks from BDL, the liver was covered with a fragment of hAM or left untreated. Six weeks later, the fibrosis was first assessed by semi-quantitative scoring systems and by Cell Profiler digital image analysis to quantify the area occupied by ductular reaction, activated myofibroblasts, collagen deposition and by transforming growth factor (TGF)-1, the main profibrogenic factor in chronic liver disease. After 6 weeks of BDL, AM rats showed a significant reduction in the severity of fibrosis. The amount of collagen deposition, the ductular reaction and the myofibroblasts were all reduced to about 50% of levels observed in BDL rats. AM was able to markedly attenuated TGF-1 immunoexpression in liver. These findings suggest that hAM patching is useful for treating cholestatic fibrosis and the mechanism was partly by reduction in the TGF-1expression.

Biography

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Luciana Barros Sant’ Anna obtained her Master in Buco Dental Biology and Pathology (2001) and PhD in Buco Dental Biology- focus on Histology (2004) from Campinas University , SP, Brazil. In 2009, she completed her Postdoctoral studies in the field of human adult stem cells with focus on cells and tissues derived from placenta at Centro di RicercaE.Menni, Fondazione Poliambulanza, Istituto Ospedalieiro, Italy. Currently, she is Researcher of Imunology Laboratory of the Institute of Research & Development from University of Vale do Paraíba, São José dos Campos, Brazil and Professor of Embriology, Histology and Anatomy of the same University. Since 2009 she is member of International Placenta Stem Cell Society (IPLASS). Email: lucianabsa@gmail.com