Zohreh Bagher

Iran University of Medical Sciences · ENT and Head & Neck Research Center and Department, Hazrat Rasoul Akram Hospital

Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL), often stemming from reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation due to various factors such as ototoxic drugs, acoustic trauma, and aging, remains a significant health concern. Oxidative stress- induced damage to the sensory cells of the inner ear, particularly the non-regenerating hair cells, is a critical pathologi...

Cardiovascular diseases (CDs) are the foremost cause of death worldwide. Several promising therapeutic methods have been developed for this approach, including pharmacological, surgical intervention, cell therapy, or biomaterial implantation since...

The tympanic membrane (TM) integrity is necessary for our normal hearing function. TM perforations pose significant morbidities such as middle ear infection, recurrent otorrhea, hearing loss, and acquired cholesteatoma. Myringoplasty is commonly performed to repair chronic perforations; although various grafts and materials have been utilized to pr...

Exosomes are among the most effective therapeutic tools for tissue engineering. This study demonstrates that a 3D composite scaffold containing exosomes can promote regeneration in rat tympanic membrane perforation (TMP). The scaffolds were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), degradation, PBS adsorption, swelling, porosity, and...

Male survivors of childhood cancer have been known to be afflicted with azoospermia. To combat this, the isolation and purification of spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) are crucial. Implementing scaffolds that emulate the extracellular matrix environment is vital for promoting the regeneration and proliferation of SSCs. This research aimed to evalua...

In this study, we fabricated a novel multilayer polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/alginate sulfate (ALG-S) nanofiber/decellularized Wharton's Jelly ECM (d-ECM) composite for tympanic membrane perforations (TMPs) tissue engineering (TE). Initially, electrospun PVA/ALG-S scaffolds with different blend ratios were fabricated. The influence of ALG-S ratio on sur...

Stem cell therapy is a promising strategy for cartilage tissue engineering, and cell transplantation using polymeric scaffolds has recently gained attention. Herein, we encapsulated human adipose-derived stem cells (hASCs) within the alginate sulfate hydrogel and then added them to polycaprolactone/gelatin electrospun nanofibers and extracellular m...

Silk fibroin (SF), extracted from Bombyx mori, has unique physicochemical properties to achieve an efficient wound dressing. In this study, reduced graphene oxide (RGO)/ZnO NPs/silk fibroin nanocomposite was made, and an innovative nanofiber of SF/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/RGO/ZnO NPs was ready with the electrospinning technique and successfully char...

Objective: Animal-free scaffolds have emerged as a potential foundation for consistent, chemically defined, and low-cost materials. Because of its good potential for high biocompatibility with reproductive tissues and well-characterized scaffold design, we investigated whether polyglycolic acid (PGA) could be used as an animal-free scaffold instea...

Bioactive glasses are highly reactive surface materials synthesized by melting or sol-gel techniques. In this study, mesoporous bioactive glass-ceramics doped with different amounts of vanadium and iron ((60-(x + y)) SiO2-36CaO-4P2O5-xV2O5-yFe2O3, x and y between 0, 5 and, 10 mole%) were synthesized using a sol-gel method. Then, their effects on pa...

Background: Mutations in NARS2 gene (MIM: 612803) are associated with Combined Oxidative Phosphorylation Deficiency 24 (COXPD24) (MIM: 616239) that is a rare mitochondrial and a multisystem autosomal recessive disorder. Aims: We aimed to detect the underlying genetic factors in two siblings with progressive ataxia, epilepsy, and severe-to-profound...

Donor shortage for organ transplantations is a major clinical challenge worldwide. Potential risks inevitably encountered with traditional methods include complications, secondary injuries, and, most importantly, limited donor sources. Today, researchers from multiple disciplinary areas, including biomaterials, biology, and nanotechnology in tissue...

Motor neuron diseases such as spinal cord injuries and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis are known as the most common disorders worldwide. Using stem cells (e.g., human umbilical cord blood mesenchymal stem cells) is currently a potent medical approach for modulating the impact of neural damages and regeneration of spinal cord injuries. MicroRNAs (miRN...

Biomimetic hydrogels have been developed in the fabrication of multifunctional microenvironments for cell culture and tissue fabrication. In the current study, different compositions of hyaluronic acid (HA) and chitosan (CH) derivatives with opposite charges were fabricated. To increase the interaction between these components phenol moieties were...

Various composite scaffolds with different fabrication techniques have been applied in cartilage tissue engineering. In this study, poly ɛ‐caprolactone (PCL) was printed by fused deposition modeling method, and the prepared scaffold was filled with Alginate (Alg): Alginate‐Sulfate (Alg‐Sul) hydrogel to provide a better biomimetic environment and em...

Implantation of a suitable nerve guide conduit (NGC) seeded with sufficient Schwann cells (SCs) is required to improve peripheral nerve regeneration efficiently. Given the limitations of isolating and culturing SCs, using various sources of stem cells, including mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) obtained from nasal olfactory mucosa, can be desirable. O...

The modification of poly (l-lactic acid) (PLLA) electrospun nanofibrous scaffolds was carried out by blending with second-generation poly amidoamine (PAMAM) for enhancement of their ionic conductivity. The samples containing PLLA and various amounts of PAMAM (1%, 3%, 5%, and 7% by wt.) were fabricated by electrospinning techniques. The electrospun...

The pressing demand for a creative method to effectively model human drug responses in preclinical research has prompted the advancement of "organ-on-a-chip" (OoC) systems. These problems are not detected during...

Peripheral nerve injury is a common medical condition that has a great impact on patient quality of life. Currently, surgical management is considered to be a gold standard first-line treatment; however, is often not successful and requires further surgical procedures. Commercially available FDA- and CE- approved decellularized nerve conduits offer...

Background Motor neurons (MNs) are distinct types of cells in the dorso-ventral axis of the spinal cord. These cells are developed in the presence of two main morphogens, including Sonic hedgehog (Shh) and retinoic acid (RA). On the other hand, human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (hBM-MSCs) are known as a multipotent type of cells with neural...

Introduction: Strategies of Schwann cell (SC) transplantation for regeneration of peripheral nerve injury involve many limitations. Stem cells can be used as alternative cell source for differentiation into Schwann cells. Given the high potential of neural crest-derived stem cells for the generation of multiple cell lineages, in this research, we...

The occurrence of anosmia, the loss or change in sense of smell, is one of the most common symptoms of COVID-19 experienced by almost 53% of those affected. Several hypotheses explain the mechanism of anosmia in patients suffering from COVID-19. This study aims to review the related mechanisms and answer the questions regarding COVID-19-related ano...

Among the various therapeutic procedures used for improving PD, stem cell-based therapy has been shown to be a promising method. Olfactory ectomesenchymal stem cells (OE-MSCs) are a great source of stem cells for PD. Also, the intranasal administration (INA) of stem cells to the neural lesion has several advantages over the other approaches to cell...

For bone tissue engineering, stem cell-based therapy has become a promising option. Recently, cell transplantation supported by polymeric carriers has been increasingly evaluated. Herein, we encapsulated human olfactory ectomesenchymal stem cells (OE-MSC) in the collagen hydrogel system, and their osteogenic potential was assessed in vitro and in v...

Introduction: Maintenance of neurogenesis depends on the function of some histone-modifying enzymes; including Enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) and histone acetyltransferases (P300). The mechanism of epigenetic regulation and gene expression underlying the transition of human umbilical cord blood mesenchymal stem cells (hUCB-MSCs) into MNs has n...

Background Therapy based stem cells have offered a novel therapeutic approach for the improvement of neurodegenerative diseases, specially Parkinson. Hence, developing a well-established culture model with appropriate stem cells is extremely crucial in regenerative engineering to provide efficient targeted cells. Human adult mesenchymal stem cells...

Regenerative medicine offers the potential to repair or substitute defective tissues by constructing active tissues to address the scarcity and demands for transplantation. The method of forming 3D constructs made up of biomaterials, cells, and biomolecules is called bioprinting. Bioprinting of stem cells provides the ability to reliably recreate t...

Introduction: Cholinergic-associated diseases currently constitute a significant cause of neurological and neurodegenerative disabilities. As the drugs are not efficient in improving the suffered tissues, stem cell treatment is considered an effective strategy for substituting the lost cells. Methods: In the current study, we set out to investig...

There is a growing research interest on designing a tissue regenerative matrix that can be injected and forms an anisotropic network for effective nerve injury repair. Here, an injectable alginate hydrogel composed of magnetic polycaprolactone (PCL) short nanofibers were fabricated. Nanocomposite PCL centrifugal spun fibers containing superparamagn...

In this study, we fabricated two different arrangements of laminated composite scaffolds based on Alginate:Alginate sulfate hydrogel, PCL:Gelatin electrospun mat, and Kartogenin-PLGA nanoparticles (KGN-NPs). The optimized composite scaffold revealed a range of advantages such as improved mechanical features as well as less potential of damage (less...

Desirable carbon allotropes such as graphene oxide (GO) have entered the field with several biomedical applications, owing to their exceptional physicochemical and biological features, including extreme strength, found to be 200 times stronger than steel; remarkable light weight; large surface-to-volume ratio; chemical stability; unparalleled therm...

One of the complex neurodegenerative disorders is Parkinson disease (PD). PD is mainly caused by dopaminergic (DAergic) neuron degeneration in the midbrain. The loss of DAergic neurons is considered as a key reason of motor functional defects in PD patients. Cell replacement strategies are considered as an alternative remedy to effectively address...

Functional improvement after spinal cord injury remains an unsolved difficulty. Glial scars, a major component of SCI lesions, are very effective in improving the rate of this recovery. Such scars are a result of complex interaction mechanisms involving three major cells, namely, astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, and microglia. In recent years, scienti...

Human olfactory ecto-mesenchymal stem cells (hOE-MSCs) derived from the human olfactory mucosa (OM) can be easily isolated and expanded in cultures while their immense plasticity is maintained. To mitigate ethical concerns, the hOE-MSCs can be also transplanted across allogeneic barriers, making them desirable cells for clinical applications. The m...

The design of 3D hydrogel constructs to elicit highly controlled cell response is a major field of interest in developing tissue engineering. The bioactivity of encapsulated cells inside pure alginate hydrogel is limited by its relatively inertness. Combining short nanofibers within a hydrogel serves as a promising method to develop a cell friendly...

Cellular transplant therapy is one of the most common therapeutic strategies used to mitigate symptoms of neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington’s disease (HD). Briefly, the main goal of the present study was to investigate HD’s motor deficits through the olfactory ecto-mesenchymals stem cells (OE-MSC) secretome. OE-MSCs were characterized i...

The tympanic membrane (TM), more commonly known as the eardrum, consists of a thin layer of tissue in the human ear that receives sound vibrations from outside of the body and transmits them to the auditory ossicles. The TM perforations (TMP) are a common ontological condition, which in some cases can result in permanent hearing loss. Despite the s...

Current hyaluronic acid‐based hydrogels often cause cytotoxicity to encapsulated cells and lack the adhesive property required for effective biomedical and tissue engineering applications. Provision of the cell‐adhesive surface is an important requirement to improve its biocompatibility. An aqueous solution of hyaluronic acid possessing phenolic hy...

One of the most effective approaches for treatment of chronic rhinosinusitis is the use of hydrogel scaffolds with the sustained release of a given required drug. With this in mind, first, we synthesized and characterized poly (lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) micro and nano particles loaded with dexamethasone (DEX). We observed a 7-day release of DEX...

Introduction: Aging is a natural phenomenon that is caused by changes in the cells of the body. Theoretically, aging starts from birth and lasts throughout life. These changes affect the function of the cells. Also, in old tissues, the capacity for homeostasis and tissue repair is decline due to destructive changes in specific tissue stem cells, ni...

Introduction: Cholinergic-associated diseases currently constitute a significant cause of neurological and neurodegenerative disabilities. As the drugs are not efficient in improving the suffered tissues, stem cell treatment is considered an effective strategy for substituting the lost cells. Methods: In the current study, we set out to investigate...

Background Motor neuron- related disorders such as Spinal Cord Injuries and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis are extremely common around the world. Many efforts have been made to use stem cells to modulate regeneration of spinal cord damages. Human umbilical cord blood mesenchymal stem cells (CB-MSCs) cover a class of cells with self-renewal feature a...

Electrospun nanofiber matrices sufficiently mimic the structural morphology of natural extracellular matrix. In this study, we aimed to examine the effects of agar/polyvinyl alcohol nanofiber (PVA) scaffold on the proliferation efficiency and differentiation potential of neonate mouse spermatogonial stem cells (SCCs). Testicular cells were isolated...

The nasal septal cartilage plays an important role during the growth of midface and as a vertical strut preventing the collapse of the nasal bones. The repair of nasal cartilage defects remains a major challenge in reconstructive surgery. The tissue engineering strategy in the development of tissue has opened a new perspective to generate functiona...

About 2.8% of trauma patients suffer from peripheral nerve injury and it becomes a serious challenge in the world. Therefore, various methods and materials have been used for regenerating peripheral nerve damages. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of different dosages of Hesperidin on peripheral nerve regeneration. For this purpose, d...

Cellular growth of enclosed cells in core-shell microcapsules is a key element for the practical use of the device in tissue engineering and biopharmaceutical fields. We developed alginate derivative microcapsules with a liquid core template by horseradish peroxidase crosslinking using an integrated coaxial microfluidic device by electrospray syste...

Release characterization of Kartogenin (KGN) as a new small molecule by the conventional media remains a challenge due to its hydrophobicity; thus, the novel external sink method utilized. The present study attempted to investigate the in vitro release of KGN, which incorporated in poly-d,l-lactide-co-glycolide (PLGA) microparticles in two differen...

One of the most effective approaches for treatment of cartilage involves the use of porous three-dimensional scaffolds, which are useful for improving not only cellular adhesion but also mechanical properties of the treated tissues. In this study, we manufactured a composite scaffold with optimum properties to imitate nasal cartilage attributes. Ca...

Electroactive scaffolds derived from carbohydrate hydrogels were synthesized, resulting in a large shift in the conductivity of chitosan (CS) from 10-6 S/cm to about 10-3 S/cm, assigned to CS-oligoaniline. Several analyses including UV-visible spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry were performed, before examining the carbohydrate-based scaffolds for...

Skin damages have always been considered as one of the most common physical injuries. Therefore, many researches have been conducted to find an efficient method for wound healing. Since hydrogels have suitable characteristics, they are widely used for this purpose. In this study, based on the high efficiency of alginate and chitosan hydrogels in th...

In microparticles producing, the polymer concentration and the drug to polymer ratio are important parameters which effect on drug's encapsulation efficiency and drug release; thus, achieving an acceptable amount of encapsulation efficiency (EE) is hard. In present study, two different polymer concentration (1.2% and 5%) check out and the drug EE c...

Novel injectable thermosensitive PNIPAM/hyaluronic acid hydrogels containing various amounts of chitosan-g-acrylic acid coated PLGA (ACH-PLGA) micro/nanoparticles were synthesized and designed to facilitate the regeneration of cartilage tissue. The ACH-PLGA particles were used in the hydrogels to play a triple role: first, the allyl groups on the c...

Background: Hearing impairment (HI) is a heterogeneous disorder. GJB2 and GJB6 genes are typically the first line of genetic screening before proceeding to any massive parallel sequencing. We evaluated the clinical utility of GJB2 and GJB6 testing in the Iranian population. Methods: GJB2 and GJB6 were sequenced. PubMed and Google Scholar were searc...

Developing a simple produces for efficient derivation of motor neurons (MNs) is essential for neural tissue engineering studies. Stem cells with high capacity for neural differentiation and scaffolds with the potential to promote motor neurons differentiation are promising candidates for neural tissue engineering. Recently, human olfactory ecto-mes...

The generation of dopaminergic neurons from stem cells is a potential therapeutic approach to treat neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson's disease. The current study aims to investigate the potential of two different types of mesenchymal stem cells derived from human Wharton's jelly and nasal cavity for differentiation into dopaminergic n...

Regeneration and functional recovery after peripheral nerve damage still remain a significant clinical problem. In this study, alginate/chitosan (alg/chit) hydrogel was used for the transplantation of olfactory ectomesenchymal stem cells (OE‐MSCs) to promote peripheral nerve regeneration. The OE‐MSCs were isolated from olfactory mucosa biopsies and...

Two of the most problematic orthopedic and neurosurgeon visits are associated with spine and craniofacial fractures. Therefore, more attention needs to be paid to finding a medicine to repair these fractures. Amongst the most mysterious herbs, Aloe vera stands out. In the present study, the ameliorating function of A. vera on osteogenesis was studi...

The production of dopaminergic (DA) neurons from stem cells holds a great promise for future clinical treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's disease (PD). Olfactory ecto-mesenchymal stem cells (OE-MSCs) derived from the adult human olfactory mucosa can be easily isolated and expanded in culture while maintaining their immense...

Cell transplantation is a potential therapeutic approach for repairing neuropathological and neurodegenerative disorders of central nervous system by replacing the degenerated cells with new ones. Among a variety of stem cell candidates to provide these new cells, olfactory ectomesenchymal stem cells (OE-MSCs) have attracted a great attention due t...

In this study, synthesis of a novel biocompatible stimuli-responsive conducting hydrogel based on agarose/alginate-aniline tetramer with the capability of a tailored electrically controlled drug-release for neuroregeneration is investigated. First, aniline tetramer is synthesized and grafted onto sodium alginate. Then, this material is added to aga...

In the recent years from variety of tissues, stem cells have been isolated but seem to be more concerning to mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from bone marrow, adult organs, and fetuses show the disadvantages of ethical constraints, invasive isolation, and low cell numbers, and there are the clinical hurdles of potential...

It was shown that topography and surface chemistry of materials influence cell behaviors. In this study, the effects of chemistry and topography of scaffold surface on adhesion, proliferation and differentiation of Wharton's Jelly mesenchymal (WJMSCs) stem cells into motor neurons were investigated. WJMSCs were cultivated in an neurogenic inductive...

It was shown that topography and surface chemistry of materials influence cell behaviors. In this study, the effects of chemistry and topography of scaffold surface on adhesion, proliferation and differentiation of Wharton's Jelly mesenchymal (WJMSCs) stem cells into motor neurons were investigated. WJMSCs were cultivated in an neurogenic inductive...

The most important property of stem cells from different sources is the capacity to differentiate into various cells and tissue types. However, problems including contamination, normal karyotype, and ethical issues cause many limitations in obtaining and using these cells from different sources. The cells in Wharton's jelly region of umbilical cord...

Cell transplantation strategies have provided potential therapeutic approaches for treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Mesenchymal stem cells from Wharton's jelly (WJMSCs) are abundant and available adult stem cells with low immunological incompatibility, which could be considered for cell replacement therapy in the future. However, MSC transp...

Porous nanocomposites based on poly(ε-caprolactone fumarate) (PCLF) resin matrix; N-vinyl pyrrolidone (NVP) as a reactive diluents and nanohydroxyapatite (nHA) filler were developed for bone tissue engineering applications. Nanocomposite scaffolds with three different contents of nHA [5, 10, and 20 (w/w %)] were prepared by thermal crosslinking of...

Bone tissue engineering requires materials that are biocompatible, mechanically suited for bone function, integrated with the host skeleton, and support osteoinduction of the implanted cells for new bone formation. The aim of this study was to compare the osteogenic potential of xenograft with hydroxyapatite/β- tricalcium phosphate (HA/β-TCP) scaff...

Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare xenograft scaffold and prous Hydroxyapatite/ Tricalcium phosphate for the repair of bony defect. Material and methods: 5 New Zealand rabbits with the average weight of 2 kg were used. The rabbits were anesthetized with ketamine 60 mg/kg and xylazin 6 mg/kg After creating a critical-sized segmental defec...