title: Cathepsin B Imaging to Predict Quality of Engineered Cartilage.
abstract: Cathepsin B (CB)-specific molecular imaging probe is applied to monitor the changes of CB expression in 3D cultured chondrocytes during the chondrogenesis. The probe is synthesized with a CB-cleavable peptide linked to a near infrared fluorescence (NIRF) dye and a dark quencher, which can recover the NIRF signal in the presence of CB enzyme. The CB activities in two different sets of chondrocytes are comparatively analyzed. The chondrocytes with higher CB activity show more extensive area of chondrogenesis that CB molecular imaging directly reflects the chondrogenic potency of the cells. The CB probe is expected to provide a reliable prediction for the quality of engineered cartilage by visualizing the activity of the relevant enzyme in chondrocytes.
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, EwhaWomans University, Seoul 120-750, Korea.
authors.forename: Ji Young
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Yhee
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul 120-749, Korea.
authors.forename: Yong-Jin
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Center for Theragnosis, Biomedical Research Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul 136-791, Korea.
authors.forename: Ju Hee
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Ryu
authors.affiliation: Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 440-746, Korea.
authors.forename: Hong Yeol
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Science and Technology, Seoul 136-791, Korea.
authors.forename: Hyeyoun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 440-746, Korea.
authors.forename: Jae Hyung
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, EwhaWomans University, Seoul 120-750, Korea.
authors.forename: Hyukjin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Dentistry, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Ansan 425-707, Korea.
authors.forename: Hyon-Seok
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Jang
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang, Gyeongbuk, Korea.
authors.forename: Unyong
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.affiliation: Center for Theragnosis, Biomedical Research Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul 136-791, Korea. kim@kist.re.kr.|Department of Dentistry, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Ansan 425-707, Korea. kim@kist.re.kr.
authors.forename: Kwangmeyung
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Next-generation Pharmaceutical Research Center, Korea Institute of Toxicology, Daejeon 305-343, Korea. swkang@kitox.re.kr.
authors.forename: Sun-Woong
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Kang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000201:enzymology / Q000502:physiology*; D002401:Cathepsin B / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D019902:Chondrocytes / Q000201:enzymology / Q000502:physiology; D020219:Chondrogenesis; D015870:Gene Expression; D057054:Molecular Imaging; D061848:Optical Imaging; D011786:Quality Control; D011817:Rabbits; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000592:standards*
chemical_list: D002401:Cathepsin B
keywords: cartilage tissue engineering; cathepsin B; diagnosis; molecular imaging; transplantation