The present invention provides novel compositions comprising multipotent cells or microvascular tissue, wherein the cells or tissue has been sterilized and/or treated to inactivated viruses, and related methods of using these compositions to treat or prevent tissue injury or disease in an allogeneic subject.

The growth factor profile, connective tissue matrix constituents, and immunoprivileged status of urodele extracellular matrix (ECM) and accompanying cutaneous tissue, plus the presence of antimicrobial peptides there, render urodele-derived tissue an ideal source for biological scaffolds for xenotransplantation. In particular, a biological scaffold biomaterial can be obtained by a process that entails (A) obtaining a tissue sample from a urodele, where the tissue comprises ECM, inclusive of the basement membrane, and (B) subjecting the tissue sample to a decellularization process that maintains the structural and functional integrity of the extracellular matrix, by virtue of retaining its fibrous and on-fibrous proteins, glycoaminoglycans (GAGs) and proteoglycans, while removing sufficient cellular components of the sample to reduce or eliminate antigenicity and immunogenicity for xenograft purposes. The resultant urodele-derived biomaterial can be used to enhance restoration of skin homeostasis, to reduce the severity, durations and associated damage caused by post-surgical inflammation, and to promote progression of natural healing and regeneration processes. In addition, the biomaterial promotes the formation of remodeled tissue that is comparable in quality, function, and compliance to undamaged human tissue.

A method for instant lumbar spine fusion between two vertebrae in a patient includes establishing under X-ray fluoroscopy the location of the transpedicular notch of the next lower vertebra in caudal direction, making a percutaneous incision to the transpedicular notch, inserting a cannulated guide, drilling a transpedicular approach from the pedicle of the lower vertebra to the anterior part of the vertebral body of the vertebrae above the disc to be treated, inserting a working cannula through the previously drilled approach reaching the intervertebral disk, cleaning and scrapping the intervertebral disk space, inserting transpedicularly at least one intervertebral stabilizing screw, and acting on both intervertebral screws with screwdrivers in order to distract or contract both screws allowing to adjust or correct the intervertebral distance of the disk. The method can be performed on an outpatient basis.

The invention relates to a porous osteoinductive calcium phosphate material having an average grain size in a range of 0.1-1.50 μm, having a porosity consisting essentially only of micropores in a size range of 0.1-1.50 μm, and having a surface area percentage of micropores in a range of 10-40%.

The present disclosure provides improved biomaterials extracted from fibrous meniscal cartilage (FMC). The materials are at least partially decellularized and enzyme treated to remove at least a portion of the elastin and blood vessels found in FMC. Such biomaterials can be employed as tissue scaffolds, such as in transplant procedures.

Methods and compositions are provided for the regeneration of articular cartilage by activating skeletal stem cells with a combination of (i) mechanical and (ii) biochemical stimulus. The mechanical stimulus can be an acute local injury. The biochemical stimulus can be a combination of an effective dose of a BMP2 activating agent and a VEGF inhibitor.

Disclosed herein are compositions of biodegradable scaffolds combined with mesenchymal stem cells and methods of use thereof for the regeneration of cranial sutures and treatment of craniosynostosis, which can help reverse increased intracranial pressure and skull and neurocognitive abnormalities.

It is an object to provide a therapeutic material for a skin ulcer which has excellent therapeutic effects on intractable skin ulcers such as decubitus ulcers with pockets and huge decubitus ulcers. By applying the therapeutic material for decubitus ulcers consisting of a fibrous material holding an antibiotic and a cell proliferation accelerator therein which is formed into an approximately spherical shape to a site of decubitus in a state in which a defect extending to the dermis, subcutaneous tissue, muscle or bone occurs, it is possible to treat critical skin ulcers such as intractable decubitus ulcers with pockets and huge intractable decubitus ulcers, as well as to treat not only relatively mild decubitus classified as stage II according to the US National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (NPUAP) staging system, i.e., decubitus having ulcers in a state in which a part of the dermis is deficient, but also severe decubitus that has progressed to stage III to IV according to the NPUAP staging system, particularly decubitus with intractable ulcers with pockets or decubitus with huge intractable ulcers.

The present invention provides compounds of formula I:

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or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt, tautomer, or stereoisomer thereof, wherein the variables are as defined herein. The present invention further provides pharmaceutical compositions comprising such compounds, and methods of using such compounds for treatment of joint damage or joint injury in a mammal, and for inducing differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells into chondrocytes.

A microporous gel system for certain applications, including biomedical applications, includes an aqueous solution containing plurality of microgel particles including a biodegradable crosslinker. In some aspects, the microgel particles act as gel building blocks that anneal to one another to form a covalently-stabilized scaffold of microgel particles having interstitial spaces therein. In certain aspects, annealing of the microgel particles occurs after exposure to an annealing agent that is endogenously present or exogenously added. In some embodiments, annealing of the microgel particles requires the presence of an initiator such as exposure to light. In particular embodiments, the chemical and physical properties of the gel building blocks can be controlled to allow downstream control of the resulting assembled scaffold. In one or more embodiments, cells are able to quickly infiltrate the interstitial spaces of the assembled scaffold.