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Electrical stimulation (ES) can promote peripheral nerve repair. Nevertheless, the basis of ES generally requires conductive tissue engineering scaffolds. In this work, a neural tissue engineering scaffold is prepared from a series of conductive composites. The conductive composites, hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC)/soy protein isolate (SPI)/polyaniline (PANI) films (HSPFs), were prepared by natural volatilization of HEC/SPI solution and then in-situ polymerization of aniline. Subsequently, the HSPFs films were confirmed by ATR-FTIR, water contact angle and SEM characterization. The conductivity of HSPFs reached 0.45 S/m superlatively and cell contact test showed that HSPFs had good cytocompatibility with PC12 cells. Most important of all, the neurite lengths and BDNF protein expression of PC12 cells on HSPFs can be promoted by ES. These results indicated that the ES may have potential application in nerve tissue engineering field through the conductive HSPFs films.

TBC proteins are classified as a group because they contain a common conserved structure TBC domain. TBC domain consists of approximately 200 amino acids and presents in many eukaryotic proteins. It is reported that TBC proteins have been shown to function as a GAP for Rab GTPase. TBC proteins catalyze the hydrolysis of GTP and promote the conversion of Rab-GTP to Rab-GDP, thus participating in the specific intracellular transport. Many TBC proteins play important roles in cellular functions in mammals, and their deletions or mutations are closely related to many diseases. It is important to systematically sort out these findings and functions of the TBC family and illuminate the significance of TBC proteins in different physiological conditions. Here we reviewed the structure and function of TBC proteins, especially the function related to to Rab small GTPases.

Injuries to articular cartilage are one of the most challenging issues of musculoskeletal medicine due to the poor intrinsic ability of this tissue for repair. Despite progress in orthopaedic surgery, cell-based surgical therapies such as autologous chondrocyte transplantation (ACT) have been in clinical use for cartilage repair for over a decade but this approach has shown mixed results. Moreover, the lack of efficient modalities of treatment for large chondral defects has prompted research on tissue engineering combining chondrogenic cells, scaffold materials and environmental factors.This paper focuses on the main parameters in tissue engineering and on the potential of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) as an alternative to cells derived from patient tissues in autologous transplantation and tissue engineering. Here we discuss the prospects of using autologous chondrocytes or MSCs in regenerative medicine and summarize the advantages and disadvantages of these cells in articular cartilage engineering.

Human tissues don't regenerate spontaneously, explaining why regenerative medicine and cell therapy represent a promising alternative treatment (autologous cells or stem cells of different origins). The principle is simple: cells are collected, expanded and introduced with or without modification into injured tissues or organs. Among middle-term therapeutic applications, cartilage defects, bone repair, cardiac insufficiency, burns, liver or bladder, neurodegenerative disorders could be considered.