A finding by University of California bioengineers could hasten development of lab-grown blood vessels and other tissues to replace and regenerate damaged tissues in human patients. The results are published in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces.
Curcumin, a compound found in turmeric, has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties and is known to suppress angiogenesis in malignant tumors. Bioengineers at UC Riverside have now discovered that when delivered through magnetic hydrogels into stem cell cultures this versatile compound paradoxically also promotes the secretion of vascular endothelial growth factor, or VEGF, that helps vascular tissues grow.