The present invention relates to a method for producing a decalcified hard tissue sample, particularly to a method for producing a decalcified sample of a living hard tissue replacement, a living hard tissue or their composite, to which cells are attached, simply at a low cost.
To microscopically observe hard tissues such as composites comprising scaffolds constituted by living hard tissue replacements, to which cells are attached, living hard tissues, etc., samples of 10 μm or less in thickness are usually produced. Such samples have conventionally been produced by decalcifying hard tissues, embedding them in paraffin, slicing them, and staining them. Particularly when living body components are contained in small amounts, however, this method has difficulty in observing the true conditions of cells and the overall hard tissue structures, because the hard tissues are too weak or lost after the calcium components are dissolved away. In an artificial bone, to which cells are attached and cultured, for instance, it does not have sufficient scaffold because of too little collagen, etc. after decalcification, failing to sufficiently keep the conditions of the attached cells.
Investigation has thus been conducted to provide a method of embedding a hard tissue in a resin without decalcification, and slicing and staining it. This method, however, can produce only as thick sections as about 100 μm, needing the grinding of the sections, and thus resulting in a high sample production cost. In addition, it suffers the problem that the number of samples obtained from a specimen of the same size is 1/100 or less that of decalcified samples.
As a method for producing a sliced sample of a non-decalcified hard tissue, JP 2000-346770 A proposes a method of embedding a non-decalcified hard tissue in an ethylenically unsaturated monomer (for instance, MMA), and an azo-type polymerization initiator capable of polymerizing the monomer at low temperatures, polymerizing the ethylenically unsaturated monomer, and slicing the hard tissue. Because the ethylenically unsaturated monomer has excellent permeability to the hard tissue, specimens embedded in such monomer have excellent sliceability. However, because an embedded hard tissue is sliced in the method of JP 2000-346770 A, the fine structure of the hard tissue would likely be broken by slicing if the hard tissue had high hardness. In addition, embedding takes 3-4 weeks in this method.
As a method for producing a sliced sample while keeping the conditions of a tissue well, JP 2002-31586 A proposes a method of immersing the hard tissue in an aqueous solution of carboxymethylcellulose, etc., freezing it, placing the resultant frozen, embedded specimen on a supporting block via glycerin, attaching a thin plastic film coated with an adhesive to a surface of the specimen, and horizontally slicing the frozen, embedded specimen. Though the method of JP 2002-31586 A works well on a soft tissue sample, it destroys the fine structure of a hard tissue during slicing. In addition, it needs a freeze-slicing apparatus, resulting in a high cost.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing a decalcified hard tissue sample simply at a low cost while keeping the fine structure of the hard tissue.
As a result of intense research in view of the above object, the inventors have found that decalcification after embedding a hard tissue in a liquid-penetration-permitting resin can produce a decalcified hard tissue sample simply at a low cost while keeping the fine structure of the hard tissue. The present invention has been completed based on this finding.
Thus, the method for producing a decalcified hard tissue sample according to the present invention comprises embedding the hard tissue in a liquid-penetration-permitting resin, and then decalcifying it. The decalcified, embedded hard tissue is preferably re-embedded in a resin.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the hard tissue is preferably a living hard tissue, a first composite comprising a scaffold constituted by a living hard tissue replacement and cells, a second composite comprising the scaffold and the living hard tissue, or a third composite comprising the scaffold, the cells and the living hard tissue. The living hard tissue replacement is preferably a calcium compound, more preferably hydroxyapatite. The cells are preferably motor cells, which are more preferably at least one selected from the group consisting of osteoblasts, osteoblast-like cells, bone cells, cartilage cells, muscle cells, and their stem cells, precursor cells and tumor cells.
The monomer of the liquid-penetration-permitting resin is preferably hydroxyalkyl(meth)acrylate, more preferably 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate.
[1] Hard Tissue
Hard tissues for samples are not particularly restricted, but may be, for instance, a living hard tissue, a first composite composed of a scaffold constituted by a living hard tissue replacement and cells, a second composite composed of a scaffold constituted by a living hard tissue replacement and a living hard tissue, a third composite composed of a scaffold constituted by a living hard tissue replacement, cells and a living hard tissue, etc. The hard tissue may be any one of them.
(1) Living Hard Tissue
The living hard tissues may be bones, teeth, joints, calculus, etc. The living hard tissue may contain soft tissues such as fibrous tissues, cartilages, etc.
(2) First Composite
The first composite comprises a scaffold (which is constituted by a living hard and/or soft tissue replacement) and cells, and can be used not only as a material for filling and/or mending defects, but also as a material for differentiating and proliferating cells. The living hard tissue replacement may generally be hard materials used for artificial bones, artificial tooth roots, bone fillers, etc., typically calcium compounds. The calcium compounds may be apatites such as hydroxyapatite, fluoroapatite and apatite carbonate, dicalcuim phosphate, tricalcium phosphate, tetracalcium phosphate, octacalcium phosphate, etc.
The living hard tissue replacement may contain soft materials. The soft materials may be known high-molecular materials such as proteins (collagen, albumin, fibrin, etc.); synthesized polymers (polylactic acid, polyglycolic acid, poly-ε-caprolactone, etc.); polysaccharides (starch, alginic acid, etc.), etc. Examples of the living hard tissue replacement composed of a composite of hard materials and soft materials may be composites of calcium compounds and collagen. In the composites, collagen may be cross-linked.
The cells attached to the scaffold constituted by the living hard tissue replacement are not restrictive as long as they can be cultured on the scaffold. The cells may be, for instance, motor cells, liver cells, fibroblasts, urinary cells (for instance, kidney cells, bladder cells, etc.), respiratory cells (for instance, lung cells, alveolus cells, etc.), nerve cells, digestive cells (for instance, stomach cells, small intestine cells, large intestine cells, etc.), circulatory cells (for instance, heart cells, blood vessel cells, etc.), reproductive cells, etc. Stem cells, precursor cells and tumor cells of these cells may also be used.
Among these cells, the motor cells (or their stem cells, precursor cells and tumor cells) are preferable. The motor cells may be, for instance, osteoblasts, osteoblast-like cells, bone cells, cartilage cells, muscle cells, etc. The cells attached to the scaffold may be cultured for a desired period of time. This makes it possible to evaluate how fast cells proliferate in the living hard tissue replacement introduced into a living body.
(3) Second Composite
The second composite comprises a scaffold constituted by the above hard and/or soft living hard tissue replacement and the above living hard tissue.
(4) Third Composite
The third composite comprises a scaffold constituted by the above hard and/or soft living hard tissue replacement, the above cells and the above living hard tissue. The cells attached to the scaffold may be cultured for a desired period of time.
[2] Production of Sample
The method of the present invention for producing samples will be explained in detail below referring to the attached drawings, without intension of restricting the present invention to the depicted methods.
(1) Fixing Step
To stabilize the hard tissue before decalcification, it is preferable to fix the outer shape, internal structure, etc. of the tissue as it is. The fixing of the outer shape, etc. of the tissue is conducted by immersing the hard tissue in a fixative before decalcification.
The fixative may be formaldehyde, paraformaldehyde, glutaraldehyde, etc. These fixatives may be mixed with osmium oxide, acetic acid, phosphoric acid, saturated picric acid, alcohol, etc. Such mixture may be, for instance, a Karnovsky's fixative comprising glutaraldehyde and osmium tetraoxide, a Bouin's fixative comprising formaldehyde, saturated picric acid and glacial acetic acid, a paraformaldehyde/phosphoric acid buffer solution (neutral), etc.
A hard tissue piece cut out to a predetermined shape is immersed in a fixative. The immersion time and temperature are properly selected depending on the types of the hard tissue piece, the fixative, etc. In order that the fixative penetrating into a specimen does not have a concentration gradient, the fixative is preferably stirred. After the outer shape, internal structure, etc. of the hard tissue are fixed, the specimen is washed to remove the fixative. The specimen is preferably washed with flowing water.
(2) Dehydration Step
The fixed specimen is dehydrated. The dehydration improves the permeability of a liquid-penetration-permitting resin into the hard tissue piece. The dehydration is carried out by immersing a specimen in a hydrophilic organic solvent such as ethanol and acetone while stirring. The immersion time and temperature may properly be selected depending on the types and size of the hard tissue piece. During the dehydrating step, the organic solvent is preferably changed several times. In this case, it is preferable to use pluralities of aqueous solutions containing different concentrations of an organic solvent, by successively changing from a lowest-concentration solution to a highest-concentration solution (for instance, 100-% organic solvent).
(3) Primary Immersion Step
To embed the dehydrated hard tissue piece 1a in a liquid-penetration-permitting resin, it is preferable that the hard tissue piece 1a is first immersed in a mixed liquid (primary immersion liquid) 2a comprising a monomer of a liquid-penetration-permitting resin and an organic solvent as shown in
Monomers used in the primary immersion step may be the same as or different from those used in a secondary immersion step and an embedding step as long as they can form liquid-penetration-permitting resins, though the same monomers are preferable. The details of the monomer of the liquid-penetration-permitting resin will be described below. The organic solvent may be ethanol, acetone, etc. Though not particularly restricted, the concentration of the monomer in the primary immersion liquid 2a is preferably 30-70% by mass. The primary immersion time may be properly selected based on the size of the hard tissue piece 1a, etc. The primary immersion temperature may be room temperature. The primary immersion may be conducted in vacuum.
(4) Secondary Immersion Step
After the primary immersion, the hard tissue piece 1b is preferably immersed in a secondary immersion liquid 2b comprising a monomer and a polymerization initiator without an organic solvent. The secondary immersion time may generally be within 24 hours, and preferably 16-22 hours. The secondary immersion temperature may be room temperature. Incidentally, the monomer used in the secondary immersion may be the same as the monomer in the primary immersion.
The monomer of the liquid-penetration-permitting resin is preferably a monomer curable within a short period of time and capable of forming a high-light-transmittance, liquid-penetration-permitting resin that is not deteriorated for a long period of time. Such monomers may be (meth)acrylic acids and their derivatives, particularly (meth)acrylates or hydroxyalkyl(meth)acrylates, particularly hydroxyalkyl(meth)acrylates. The preferred hydroxyalkyl(meth)acrylates include 2-hydroxymethyl(meth)acrylate, 2-hydroxyethyl(meth)acrylate, 2-hydroxypropyl(meth)acrylate, 2-hydroxybutyl(meth)acrylate, etc. Among them, 2-hydroxymethyl(meth)acrylate and 2-hydroxyethyl(meth)acrylate are preferable, and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) is particularly preferable. The (meth)acrylates may be methyl(meth)acrylate, ethyl(meth)acrylate, propyl(meth)acrylate, etc. These monomers may be used alone or in combination. The monomer may contain a plasticizer, if necessary. The plasticizer may be, for instance, a hydroxyether. Commercially available monomers of the liquid-penetration-permitting resins include Technovit 7100 and 8100 available from Heraeus Kulzer of Germany, Historesin Plus available from Leica Microsystems of Germany, JB-4 available from Polyscience of the U.S., etc.
The polymerization initiator is preferably benzoyl peroxide (BPO, LUCIDOL®), etc. Commercially available monomers such as Technovit are accompanied by best-matched polymerization initiators. The amount of the polymerization initiator used may be properly changed depending on combinations with the monomers, and in a case where HEMA is combined with BPO, HEMA/BPO is preferably 100/0.5-100/1.5, for instance, 100/1 by mass. The secondary immersion liquid may contain an auxiliary catalyst, which may be, for instance, those capable of generating chloride ions. Commercially available monomers such as Technovit are accompanied by best-matched auxiliary catalysts.
(5) Embedding Step
As shown in
(6) Decalcifying Step
To decalcify the hard tissue piece 1d embedded in the liquid-penetration-permitting resin 2d, the specimen 10a comprising the hard tissue piece 1d and the resin 2d is preferably immersed in a decalcifying liquid 6 comprising an organic acid, an inorganic acid and/or a chelating agent as shown in
The specimen 10a having the hard tissue piece 1d embedded in the liquid-penetration-permitting resin 2d is preferably immersed in the decalcifying liquid 6 for 3-30 days, though changeable depending on the size of the hard tissue piece 1d, etc. The decalcifying liquid 6 penetrates into the embedded hard tissue piece 1d to dissolve away calcium components. The decalcifying liquid 6 is used preferably in an amount of 10 times or more the embedded hard tissue piece 1d by volume. If necessary, the decalcifying liquid 6 may be stirred or shaken, or voltage may be applied to the decalcifying liquid 6, to shorten the decalcifying time. A specimen 10b having the resultant the decalcified hard tissue piece 1e (shown in
(7) Re-Embedding Step with Resin
The decalcified hard tissue piece 1e (shown in
(8) Fixing-to-Supporting Block Step
A specimen 10c comprising the re-embedded, decalcified hard tissue piece 1f (shown in
(9) Production of Thin Section
The re-embedded, decalcified hard tissue piece 1f of the specimen 10c fixed to the supporting block 7 is sliced by a microtome, etc. to obtain a sample (thin section) for microscopic observation. The thin section is preferably as thick as 0.5-10 μm. The resultant thin section is thus floated on the water for extension treatment, placed on a slide glass, etc., and dried. After stained, it is sealed in a cover glass, etc. to obtain a decalcified tissue sample.
The present invention will be explained in further detail by Examples below, without intension of restricting the present invention thereto.
Primary osteoblasts obtained from a skull bone of a newborn rat were attached to hydroxyapatite having a diameter of 5 mm, a thickness of 2 mm, and a porosity of 50% before attaching the cells, and cultured. The cell-attached hydroxyapatite was immersed in a 4-%-by-mass formaldehyde/phosphoric acid buffer solution kept at room temperature for 1 week, to fix the cell tissue to the hydroxyapatite. The fixed specimen was washed with flowing water, immersed in aqueous ethanol solutions of 70% and 96%, respectively, by volume at room temperature for 2 hours each, and then immersed in anhydrous ethanol at room temperature for 1 hour for dehydration.
The dehydrated specimen was immersed in a primary immersion liquid 2a comprising a main ingredient of Technovit 7100 mainly composed of HEMA and including an auxiliary catalyst capable of generating chloride ions, and anhydrous ethanol at an equal volume ratio, at room temperature for 2 hours. The primarily immersed hard tissue piece 1b was then immersed in a secondary immersion liquid 2b at room temperature for 20 hours, and anhydrous ethanol was removed. The secondary immersion liquid 2b comprised the main ingredient of Technovit 7100 and a polymerization initiator, which was a hardener I (BPO with a 20-%-by-mass water content) of Technovit 7100, at a ratio (main ingredient/hardener I) of 100/1 by mass.
The hard tissue piece 1c impregnated with the secondary immersion liquid 2b was charged into a cavity 4a of an embedding mold 4 (Histoform available from Heraeus Kulzer) as shown in
A specimen 10a having the hard tissue piece 1d embedded in a resin 2d formed from Technovit 7100 was taken out of the mold 4, and immersed in a 5-%-by-mass aqueous formic acid solution at room temperature for 5 days as shown in
The re-embedded specimen 10c was fixed to a supporting block 7 (Histoblock available from Heraeus Kulzer) with an adhesive 8 (Technovit 3040 available from Heraeus Kulzer) as shown in
A sliced sample of cell-containing, decalcified hydroxyapatite was produced in the same manner as in Example 1, except for using ultra-porous hydroxyapatite (HAp-S) having a diameter of 5 mm, a thickness of 2 mm, and a porosity of 85% before attaching the cells, to which commercially available clonal osteoblasts [HOS (human osteosarcoma) cells] were attached and cultured.
A sliced sample of cell-containing, decalcified hydroxyapatite was produced in the same manner as in Example 2 except for dying it with toluidine blue.
As shown in
Because the present invention decalcifies a hard tissue after embedding in a liquid-penetration-permitting resin, it can produce a decalcified hard tissue sample simply at a low cost while keeping the fine structure of the hard tissue. The method of the present invention with such feature is particularly suitable for the production of decalcified hard tissue samples of artificial bone, etc., to which cells, etc. are attached and cultured.
The present disclosure relates to subject matter contained in Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-281642 filed on Sep. 28, 2004, which is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2004-281642 | Sep 2004 | JP | national |