Biology subjects

HE, Z.

Publications and source records attributed to HE, Z..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Tissue engineered endothelial keratoplasty with controlled endothelial cell density: proof of concept and paving the way for super TEEKs

Over the past 20 years, endothelial keratoplasty procedures have revolutionized the treatment of corneal endothelial disorders. These conditions have now become the leading indication for corneal transplantation in Western countries and account for half of all donor cornea usage. Despite their undeniable success, the global shortage of donor tissues and major disparities between nations justify the development of alternatives to donor grafts. Cell therapy using injections of suspended endothelial cells has proven effective, and tissue-engineered endothelial keratoplasty (TEEK) comprising a membrane coated with cultured endothelial cells is under development to better mimic the native endothelial graft. Our team utilizes a femtosecond-laser-cut lens capsule disc as a bioengineering scaffold, taking advantage of this novel tissues biocompatibility, transparency, curvature, and availability. In the present study, we provide proof of concept, in 12 TEEKs, that it is possible to control the final endothelial cell density (ECD) by varying the seeding density per mm2. Cell characterization was performed through morphometric analysis of the endothelial mosaic stained with anti-NCAM (a lateral membrane marker used as a differentiation marker), using the CellPose artificial intelligence algorithm specifically trained for in vitro endothelium segmentation. Five criteria related to pleomorphism, polymorphism, and elongation were combined into a single endothelial quality score. The median cell viability at 28 days of culture, assessed by Hoechst 33342 and Calcein-AM staining, reached 98% (range: 83-99%). The median viable ECD (number of live cells per surface unit) in the highest-density group was 3,245 cells/mm2 (range: 2,778-3,753), paving the way for the bioengineering of supra-physiological TEEKs, or super TEEKs. Impact statementThe process of manufacturing tissue-engineered endothelial keratoplasty (TEEK) allows for the control of endothelial cell density (DCE) and, in particular, the creation of super TEEKs, meaning grafts with supra-physiological DCE that are more likely to better withstand the challenges of surgery and have a prolonged lifespan in recipients.

bioengineering↗

bioRxiv2025

Athlytics: A Computational Framework for Longitudinal Analysis of Exercise Physiology Metrics from Wearable Sensor Data

The proliferation of wearable sensors provides large-scale longitudinal physiological data collected in real-world settings, offering unprecedented opportunities to investigate dynamic human responses to exercise interventions. However, systematically quantifying key physiological indicators related to adaptation and fatigue from these dense time-series data, particularly from popular platform APIs like Strava, and performing standardized, reproducible integrative analyses currently lacks established open-source workflows in R, posing significant practical and computational barriers. Researchers often expend considerable effort on custom programming, limiting analytical scale and efficiency. To overcome this critical bottleneck and empower broader research applications, we developed and introduce Athlytics, a computational framework specifically designed for processing Strava API data directly within R for longitudinal exercise physiology analysis. This framework provides a dedicated means to seamlessly integrate data acquisition with the calculation of key physiological indicators (such as ACWR reflecting training stress balance, EF assessing aerobic efficiency, and physiological decoupling indicating cardiovascular stability), based on activity summary data while carefully addressing necessary approximations for composite load metrics like TSS/HRSS, and multidimensional time-series visualization. By providing standardized function interfaces, Athlytics significantly lowers the technical barrier for conducting complex longitudinal analyses, enabling researchers to efficiently test hypotheses regarding the dynamic interplay between training stimuli, physiological efficiency, and stress responses. This work provides an open-source computational tool that fills a critical gap, contributing by substantially enhancing the feasibility, efficiency, and reproducibility of quantitative exercise physiology research utilizing widely available physiological sensor data through standardization and automation. The package (https://github.com/HzaCode/Athlytics) provides an important foundation for standardizing and applying computational methods in this field.

bioinformatics↗

bioRxiv2025

Investigating the role of molecular coating in human corneal endothelial cell primary culture using artificial intelligence-driven image analysis

The monolayer of approximately 300,000 human corneal endothelial cells (hCECs) on the posterior surface of the cornea is essential to maintain transparency but is non-self-regenerative. Corneal blindness can currently only be treated by corneal transplantation, hindered by a global donor shortage, highlighting the need for developing tissue and/or cell therapy. The mass production of these advanced therapy medicinal products requires obtaining high-yield, high-quality endothelial cell culture characterized by hexagonal shape, low size variability, and high endothelial cell density (ECD). Among the usual critical quality attributes which combine the expression of differentiation markers, ECD and cell morphology parameters, the latter are not optimally measured in vitro by conventional image analysis which poorly recognize adherent cultured cells. We developed a high-performance automated segmentation using Cellpose algorithm and an original analysis method, improving calculation of classical morphological parameters (coefficient of variation of cell area and hexagonality) and introducing new parameters specific to hCECs culture in vitro. Considering the importance of the extracellular matrix in vivo, and the panel of molecules available for coating cell culture plastics, we used these new tools to perform a comprehensive comparison of 13 molecules (laminins and collagens). We demonstrated their ability to discriminate subtle differences between cultures.

cell biology↗