A group of Russian scientists managed to develop a fundamentally new and inexpensive method for accelerating the cell growth by using nanoparticles of cerium dioxide.
It was slow cell growth in vitro that earlier limited scientists and made  treatment with cell drugs expensive and unaffordable.
The fibroblasts - connective tissue cells that play an important role in wound healing - were made the  object of the study. The colloidal solution (sol) of ceria nanoparticles synthesized at the Kurnakov Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry acted as a growth promoter.
This was reported in a press release of the Theoretical and Experimental Biophysics Institute, RAS. The solution was added to the growth medium for  cultures of primary fibroblasts taken from mouse embryos. The most effective concentration was 7.10 mol / l.
Stress Management
"When growing cells in vitro, i.e. outside the body, non-optimal conditions occur. In the context of in vitro  the level of oxygen is increased as compared to the conditions of in vivo, which affects cell metabolism. In particular, they develop oxidative stress. The addition of CeO2 nanoparticles reduces oxidative stress, thus simulating normal conditions of growing in the body. Thus the culture of stem cells begins to grow faster", - the research head, Anton Popov explained.
The Law on Cell Therapy
The research o Popov's Group is especially important in connection with the recently adopted law on biomedical cell products, which allows the use of living cells for therapy. Unlike in transplantation, the patient's body does not reject the resulting biomaterial.
"In the process of production the cells are scaled, modified, and combined with some other drugs, which results in  biomedical cellular product of a new quality. Given the current technological capabilities, a small biopsy specimen of skin can be sufficient for obtaining neurons or heart cells.  Opportunities here are infinitive", - one of the law developers, the director of the Koltsov Developmental Biology Institute, Andrey Vasilyev pointed out.