Biomedical Materials

Arthritis causes inflammatory damage to joints and connective tissues. In the treatment of arthritis, precise and controlled drug delivery to the target site is among the frontline research approaches. In the present research work, celecoxib drug and bioactive glass incorporated chitosan hydrogels were fabricated by the freeze gelation method. FTIR, SEM, and TGA/DSC techniques were used to characterize the hydrogels. Different kinetic models were applied to study the drug release kinetics. The celecoxib release was mainly controlled by a Fickian diffusion process followed by the Higuchi model...

The development of efficacious bone substitute biomaterials remains a major challenge for research and clinical surgical. Herein, we constructed triple helix recombinant collagen -based hydrogels loading bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) to stimulate bone regeneration in cranial defects. A series of in situ forming hydrogels, denoted as THRC-OCMC-NSC hydrogels, was synthesized via a Schiff base reaction involving oxidized carboxymethylcellulose (OCMC), triple helix recombinant collagen (THRC) and N-succinyl-chitosan (NSC)...

Tissue-like constructs, intended for application in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, can be produced by three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting of cells in hydrogels. It is essential that the viability and proliferation of the encapsulated cells can be reliably determined. Methods currently used to evaluate cell proliferation, such as quantification of DNA and measurement of metabolic activity, have been developed for application in 2D cultures and might not be suitable for bioinks. In this study, human fibroblasts were either cast or printed in gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) or sodium alginate hydrogels and cell proliferation was assessed by alamarBlue, PicoGreen and visual cell counts...

There is currently an urgent need to develop engineered scaffolds to support new adipose tissue formation and facilitate long-term maintenance of function and defect repair to further generate prospective bioactive filler materials capable of fulfilling surgical needs. Herein, adipose regeneration methods were optimized and decellularized adipose tissue (DAT) scaffolds with good biocompatibility were fabricated. Adipose-like tissues were reconstructed using the DAT and 3T3-L1 preadipocytes, which have certain differentiation potential, and the regenerative effects of the engineered adipose tissues in vitro and in vivo were explored...

Rapid bone regeneration in implants is important for successful transplantation. In this regard, we report the development of calcium silicate/zinc silicate (CS/ZS) dual-compound-incorporated calcium phosphate cement (CPC) scaffolds with a three-dimensional poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) network that synergistically promote bone regeneration. In vitro results demonstrated that the incorporation of CS/ZS dual compounds into the CPC significantly promoted the osteogenic differentiation of stem cells compared to the addition of CS or ZS alone...

Polycaprolactone (PCL) is a suitable material for bone repair due to good biocompatibility and mechanical properties. However, low bioactivity and hydrophobicity pose major challenges for its biomedical applications. To overcome these limitations, PCL-based scaffolds loaded with bioactive agents have been developed. Salicin (Sal) is an anti-inflammatory and analgesic herbal glycoside with osteogenic potential. In the present study, we aimed to produce a salicin-laden PCL (PCL-Sal) scaffold for bone healing applications...

Osteosarcoma is a rare cancer affecting disease for children and young adults; complete healing from this condition is quite difficult. Recently, new regeneration materials have been preferred, including natural compound companied implants for affected bone repair, and it is effectively used to treat osteosarcoma disease. Hence, Octa calcium phosphate (OCP) reinforced with poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and oleic acid (OA) with Naringenin (NRG) composite was prepared and studied to cure the sarcoma affected bone...

Digital light processing (DLP) technology has gained significant attention for its ability to construct intricate structures for various applications in tissue modeling and regeneration. In this study, we aimed to design corneal lenticules using DLP bioprinting technology, utilizing dual network bioinks to mimic the characteristics of the human cornea. The bioink was prepared using methacrylated hyaluronic acid (HA-MA) and methacrylated gelatin (Gel-MA), where Ruthenium salt (Ru) and sodium persulfate (SPS) were included for mediating photo-crosslinking while tartrazine was used as a photoabsorber...

Exosomes, typically 30-150 nm in size, are lipid-bilayered small-membrane vesicles originating in endosomes. Exosome biogenesis is regulated by the coordination of various mechanisms whereby different cargoes (e.g., proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids) are sorted into exosomes. These components endow exosomes with bioregulatory functions related to signal transmission and intercellular communication. Exosomes exhibit substantial potential as drug-delivery nanoplatforms owing to their excellent biocompatibility and low immunogenicity...

In the biomedical industry, nanoparticles (NPs - exclusively small particles with size ranging from 1 - 100 nanometres) are recently employed as powerful tools due to their huge potential in sophisticated and enhanced cancer theragnostic (i.e. therapeutics and diagnostics). Cancer is a life-threatening disease caused by carcinogenic agents and mutation in cells, leading to uncontrolled cell growth and harming the body's normal functioning while affecting several factors like low levels of ROS, hyperactive antiapoptotic mRNA expression, reduced proapoptotic mRNA expression, damaged DNA repair, and so on...

The combination of photodynamic (PDT) and chemodynamic therapy (CDT) for cancer treatment has gathered a lot of attention in recent years. However, its efficacy is severely limited by elevated levels of hypoxia and glutathione (GSH) in the tumor microenvironment (TME). Multifunctional nanoparticles that can help remodel the TME while facilitating PDT/CDT combination therapy are the need of the hour. To this effect, we have developed O2 self-supplying, free radical generating nanohybrids that exhibit NIR triggered photothermal (PTT)/photo-induced thermodynamic (P-TDT) and chemodynamic therapy for efficient breast cancer treatment...

In our previous study, the pristine bilayer small-diameter in situ tissue engineered vascular grafts (pTEVGs) were electrospun from a heparinized polycaprolactone (PCL45k) as an inner layer and a non-heparinized PCL80k as an outer layer in the thickness of about 131 μm and 202 μm, respectively. However, the hydrophilic enhancement of inner layer stemmed from the heparinization accelerated the degradation of grafts leading to the early formation of arterial aneury-sms in a period of 3 months, severely hindering the perennial observation of the neo-tissue regene-ration, host cell infiltration and graft remodeling in those implanted pTEVGs...

A novel biodegradable amphiphilic triblock copolymer, PAEEP-PEG-PLLA(polyphosphate, polyethylene glycol, and polylactic acid), was synthesized by twice ring-opening polymerization and triphenylphosphine (TPP) was grafted onto the block copolymer to synthesize a carrier material (TPP-PAEEP-PEG-PLLA), which was identified by 1H-NMR spectroscopy. The TPP-PAEEP-PEG-PLLA nanoparticles encapsulated with ursolic acid were prepared by the emulsion-solvent evaporation method and characterized by dynamic light scattering...

Macrophage-mediated bone immune responses significantly influence the repair of bone defects when utilizing tissue-engineered scaffolds. Notably, the scaffolds' physical structure critically impacts macrophage polarization. The optimal pore size for facilitating bone repair remains a topic of debate due to the imprecision of traditional methods in controlling scaffold pore dimensions and spatial architecture. In this investigation, we utilized fused deposition modeling (FDM) technology to fabricate high-precision porous polycaprolactone (PCL) scaffolds, aiming to elucidate the impact of pore size on macrophage polarization...

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in women, and chemotherapy is usually used to overcome this cancer. To improve drug delivery to cancer sites and reduce their side effects, nanocarriers such as niosomes (NIOs) are used. Moreover, a combination of other therapeutic methods like photothermal therapy (PTT) can help to enhance the chemotherapy effect. The aim of this research is the design a nanocarrier that simultaneously delivers chemotherapy and PTT agents. To achieve this goal, NIOs containing paclitaxel (PTX) as a chemotherapeutic agent and spherical AuNPs coated with citrate, chitosan, and polyamidoamine as a PTT agent were synthesized by thin hydration methods...

In post-adhesion surgery, there is a clinical need for anti-adhesion membranes specifically designed for the liver, given the limited efficacy of current commercial products. To address this demand, we present a membrane suitable for liver surgery applications, fabricated through the modification of decellularized porcine pericardium with 20 KDa 8-arm PEGNHS. We also developed an optimized modification procedure to produce a high-performance anti-adhesion barrier. The modified membrane significantly inhibited fibroblast cell adherence while maintaining minimal levels of inflammation...

Wound healing in diabetics is often impaired or delayed due to the presence of high reactive oxygen species and low antioxidant levels. Here, a sericin-honey semi-interpenetrating network hydrogel with excellent antioxidant activity was prepared. Besides, the sericin-honey hydrogel is transparent, injectable, sticky, highly porous, and has good swelling properties, antibacterial activity, and cell compatibility. Based on its good performance in vitro, sericin-honey hydrogel achieved effective in vivo treatment on a mouse diabetic wound model, significantly accelerating the wound healing process...

Calcium carbonate (CaCO3), which exhibits excellent biocompatibility and bioactivity, is a well-established bone filling material for bone defects. Here, we synthesized CaCO3 microspheres (CMs) to use as an intelligent carrier to load bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2). Subsequently, drug-loaded CMs and catalase (CAT) were added to methacrylated gelatin (GelMA) hydrogels to prepare a composite hydrogel for differential release of the drugs. CAT inside hydrogels was released with a fast rate to eliminate H2O2 and generate oxygen...

Corneal stromal injury is a common surgical disease. With the development of tissue engineering materials, many artificial corneal scaffolds have developed to replace allograft corneal transplantation and solve the problem of corneal donor shortage. However, few researchers have paid attention to corneal stromal wound healing. Herein, a nanocomposite of amino modified mesoporous bioactive glass (MBG-NH2) and microRNA-133b (miR-133b) was introduced into the patterned collagen films to achieve corneal stromal injury repair...

Cd0.3Pb0.7S (CdPbS) aqueous quantum dots (AQDs) made with 3-mercaptoproprionic acid (MPA) as a ligand have the advantages of emitting near infrared (NIR) light, well above 800 nm, that completely circumvents interference from tissue autofluorescence and have significant amounts of ligands for bioconjugation. However, retaining the right amount of MPA became a challenge when using CdPbS AQDs for bioimaging because retaining too much MPA could lead to significant nonspecific staining in cell imaging while insufficient MPA could cause AQDs instability in biological systems...