Cytokine Loaded Biopolymers as a Novel Strategy to Study Stem Cells during Wound-Healing Processes

The biopolymer matrigel loaded with cytokine can be used for the recruitment in vivo of specific cell populations and as a vector for the preparation of cell cultures. Data demonstrate that the injection of the matrigel biopolymer supplemented with interleukin-8 (IL-8) in the leech Hirudo medicinalis can be used to purify cell populations showing the same morphofunctional and molecular mechanisms of specific populations of vertebrate hematopoietic precursor cells involved in tissue repair. These cells spontaneously differentiated into myofibroblasts. This approach highlights how the innovative use of a cytokine-loaded biopolymer for an in vivo cell sorting method, applied to a simple invertebrate model, can be a tool for studying myofibroblast cell biology and its regulation, step by step. The biopolymer matrigel loaded with a specific cytokine is used for the recruitment in vivo of specific cell populations and as a vector to prepare cell tissue cultures. The injection of the matrigel biopolymer supplemented with interleukin-8 (IL-8) in the leech Hirudo medicinalis is a remarkably effective tool for isolating a specific population of precursor cells, which in turn can differentiate into myofibroblastlike cells.