A typical office worker often suffers from body aches and pains due to desk operations. Even young people may develop shoulder pain, which has been a problem, especially for older people. When shoulder pain occurs, it is difficult to put it on, let alone move the body freely, and it’s hard to sleep. While rotator cuffs are often naturally damaged as we grow older, repairing them has proved difficult.
In collaboration with Professor Hak Soo Choi at Harvard Medical School, a team of researchers from Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) was formed by Professor Dong-Woo Cho, Dr. Suhun Chae, Jinah Jang, and Professor Jinah Jang. And a Ph.D. candidate Uijung Yong has developed a complex tissue platform that can repair damaged rotator cuff cuffs. This field, capable of accurately replicating the complex structure of rotator cuffs, 3D-bioprinted uses tissue-specific extracellular matrix bioink.
The international journal Bioactive Materials recently published the findings of this study, which may give patients with chronic shoulder pain renewed hope.
The research team placed this field on mice with severe rotator cuff injury. Researchers have found muscle recovery and recovery in shoulder function. The results proved that the platform, including stem cells, could reproduce rotator cuffs.
Researchers combined tissue-specific bioimaging with infrared fluorescence imaging to visualize this process. Researchers could use this technique to monitor animal models’ anatomic changes and regenerative processes in real-time and non-invasive.
This layer provides a microenvironment and components similar to those of actual tissue. Therefore, once used in patients, it is expected that there will be higher therapeutic benefits and the restoration of shoulder function in the long run. It is especially beneficial for those patients who cannot use spontaneous tissue to regenerate rotator cuffs by providing a customized treatment option.
This research is based on the Nano-material Core Technology Development project of the National Research Foundation of Korea and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) in the U.S.