The University of Osaka · Medicine
Professor Norimasa Nakamura's research lab specializes in regenerative medicine and orthopedic tissue engineering, with a primary focus on enhancing the repair of musculoskeletal tissues such as ligaments, menisci, and cartilage. The lab investigates mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), including those derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and adult sources like adipose tissue and synovium, to develop cell-based therapies for osteoarthritis and ligament injuries. A key research direction involves optimizing culture conditions using human serum to improve MSC proliferation and differentiation while minimizing immunogenic risks. The lab also explores molecular mechanisms—such as decorin regulation in collagen fibrillogenesis—that influence tissue quality and mechanical function in scarred or degenerated joints.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
Injured ligaments heal with scar tissue, which has mechanical properties inferior to those of normal ligament, potentially resulting in re-injury, joint instability, and subsequent degenerative arthritis. In ligament scars, normal large-diameter collagen fibrils have been shown to be replaced by a homogenous population of small collagen fibrils. Because collagen is a major tensile load-bearing matrix element and because the proteoglycan decorin is known to inhibit collagen fibrillogenesis, we hy
It was observed that both ASCs and SVF resulted in clinical improvement in patients with knee OA, but that ASCs outperform SVF in the early reduction of symptoms and pain with less comorbidity.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of human serum (HS) on growth and differentiation capacity of human synovium-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) in comparison to cells grown in fetal bovine serum (FBS). Human MSCs were isolated from the synovium of knee joints of three donors and the cells were cultured individually in varying concentrations of allogenic HS or FBS. Bovine MSCs were isolated from synovium and cultured in the same manner. Cell proliferation was assessed by the te
Location of injury in the superficial layer may be useful in predicting the outcome of nonoperative treatment for acute grade III medial collateral ligament lesions combined with anterior cruciate ligament injury.
Meniscal injuries have posed a challenging problem for many years, especially considering that historically the meniscus was considered to be a structure with no important role in the knee joint. This led to earlier treatments aiming at the removal of the entire structure in a procedure known as a meniscectomy. However, with the current understanding of the function and roles of the meniscus, meniscectomy has been identified to accelerate joint degradation significantly and is no longer a prefer
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are a promising cell source for the repair of skeletal disorders. Recently, neural crest cells (NCCs) were reported to be effective for inducing mesenchymal progenitors, which have potential to differentiate into osteochondral lineages. Our aim was to investigate the feasibility of MSC-like cells originated from iPSCs via NCCs for osteochondral repair. Initially, MSC-like cells derived from iPSC-NCCs (iNCCs) were g
We investigated the in vivo introduction of a reporter gene into healing rat patellar ligaments using the hemagglutinating virus of Japan (HVJ)-liposome-mediated gene transfer method. The mid-portion of the medial half of the patellar ligament was cut transversely with a scalpel in 14-wk-old male Wistar rats. A HVJ-liposome suspension containing beta-galactosidase (beta-gal) cDNA was injected directly into the injured site and pooled in the fascial pocket covering the injured site 3 d postoperat
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