Tissue Eng Regen Med.  2016 Dec;13(6):677-683. 10.1007/10.1007/s13770-016-0128-5.

Distinguishing Tendon and Ligament Fibroblasts Based on ¹H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Biomedical Engineering, Inje University, Gimhae, Korea. biomechshin@gmail.com
  • 2Department of Health Science and Technology, Inje University, Gimhae, Korea.
  • 3Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease Center, Institute of Aged Life Redesign, UHARC, Inje University, Gimhae, Korea.

Abstract

Tendon and ligament (T/L) have been known to be obviously different from each other in tissue level. However, due to the overlapping gene markers, distinction in cellular level has not been clearly verified yet. Recently, the use of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has shown the potential to detect biological markers in cellular level. Therefore, in this study we applied a non-invasive technique based on NMR spectroscopy to establish biomarkers to distinguish between T/L fibroblasts. In addition the cellular morphologies and gene expression patterns were also investigated for comparison through optical microscopy and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). No difference was observed from morphology and real-time PCR results, either as expected. However, we found clear differences in their metabolomic spectra using ¹H NMR spectroscopy. The calculated integral values of fatty acids (with chemical shifts at ~0.9, 1.26, 1.59, 2.05, 2.25, and 2.81 ppm), lactate (~1.33 ppm), and leucine (~2.72 ppm) were significantly different between the two types of fibroblasts. To be specific tendon group exhibited higher level of the metabolite than ligament group. In conclusion, in-cell metabolomic evaluation by NMR technique used in this study is believed to provide a promising tool in distinguishing cell types, especially T/L cells, which cannot be classified by conventional biological assays.

Keyword

Biomarkers; Ligament; Metabolomic evaluation; Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy; Tendon

MeSH Terms

Biological Assay
Biomarkers
Fatty Acids
Fibroblasts*
Gene Expression
Genes, Overlapping
Lactic Acid
Leucine
Ligaments*
Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy*
Metabolomics
Microscopy
Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
Spectrum Analysis*
Tendons*
Biomarkers
Fatty Acids
Lactic Acid
Leucine
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