Electrospraying: an in-situ polymerisation route for fabricating high macroporous scaffolds

This paper reports a direct jet-based polymerisation by polycondensation approach to forming a self-supporting scaffold structure. The processing technique is electrospraying, which is also known as electrohydrodynamic atomization. A specially formulated ethanolic siloxane sol derived from alkoxysilanes was synthesised and electrosprayed using a ring-shaped ground electrode configuration. The medium was seen to electrospray in the stable cone-jet mode, which later gave rise to the growing or forming of “fir-tree” like structures. The materials were characterised using microscopy, solid state NMR, FTIR, XRD and DSC. Hence this paper explains the direct controlled polycondensation from the siloxane sol and further presents the basis by which these scaffolds take shape.     

Combinatorial synthesis of amino acid- and peptide-carbohydrate conjugates on solid phase

Carbohydrates are useful polyfunctional scaffold molecules which allow the selective attachment of a number of different side chains. The combinatorial solid phase synthesis of diverse amino acid or peptide conjugates of a polyfunctional glucose scaffold based on a set of selectively removable and orthogonally stable protecting groups is described. The resulting carbohydrate-peptide hybrids constitute potential turn mimetics.     

Reinforcement of electrospun polycaprolacton scaffold using KIT-6 to improve mechanical and biological performance

Electrospinning has been extensively accepted as one of most important techniques for fabrication of scaffolds for bone tissue engineering. Polycaprolactone is one of the most applied electro-spinned scaffolds. Since low mechanical strength of polycaprolactone scaffold leads to the limitation of its applications, composition of polycaprolactone with ceramic particles is of great interest. Several studies have been conducted on fabrication and characterization of polycaprolactone nanocomposite scaffolds, but none of these researches has used mesoporous silica particles (KIT-6). In this project, a high-strength and bioactive nanocomposite scaffold has been developed which consists of polycaprolactone and mesoporous silica particles. Results showed that increase of KIT-6 particles percentages up to 5% leads to the enhancement of tensile strength of scaffold from 1.8 ± 0.2 to 2.9 ± 1.0 MPa. Although wettability of scaffolds in presence of particles was totally lower than pure PCL scaffold, but increase of particles percentages led to enhancement of wettability and water absorption of scaffolds. On the other hand presence of KIT-6 particles increased specific surface area and also bioactivity of scaffold was increased by enhancement of ion exchange between surface and simulated body fluid. Finally it was concluded that PCL-KIT-6 scaffolds are a suitable candidate for application in tissue engineering.     

Tofu as excellent scaffolds for potential bone regeneration

Biomimetic scaffolds present the promising potential for bone regeneration. As a natural gel-like traditional food, tofu with porous architecture and proved biological safety indicated a good potential to be a natural scaffold and easy to be improved by surface modification. Hereon, we fabricated the tofu-based scaffolds and systematically explored the potential for bone tissue engineering. In addition, the collagen has been introduced by simple coating to further enhance the surface compatibility of the tofu-based scaffold in bone regeneration. The results showed that the tofu-based scaffolds possessed good porous structure and cytocompatibility. Notably, the tofu-based scaffolds could improve the expression of osteogenesis-related genes and proteins, leading to better bone regeneration after 2 months of implantation. All the results indicated that tofu would become an outstanding sustainable natural porous scaffold for bone regeneration with excellent bioactivities.     

Needle-free electrospinning of nanofibrillated cellulose and graphene nanoplatelets based sustainable poly (butylene succinate) nanofibers

Sustainable materials have slowly overtaken the nanofiber research field while the tailoring of their properties and the upscaling for industrial production are some of the major challenges. We report preparation of nanofibers that are bio-based and biodegradable prepared from poly (butylene succinate) (PBS) with the incorporation of nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) and graphene nanoplatelets (GN). NFC and GN were combined as hybrid filler, which led to the improved morphological structure for electrospun nanofibers. A needleless approach was used for solution electrospinning fabrication of nanofiber mesh structures to promote application scalability. The polymer crystallization process was examined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), the thermal stability was evaluated by thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), while the extensive investigation of the nanofibers structure was carried out with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). NFC and GN loadings were 0.5 and 1.0 wt %; while poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG) was employed as a compatibilizer to enhance fillers’ interaction within the polymer matrix. The interactions in the interface of the fillers and matrix components were studied by FTIR and Raman spectroscopies. The hybrid filler approach proved to be most suitable for consistent and high-quality nanofiber production. The obtained dense mesh-based structures could have foreseeable potential application in biomedical field like scaffolds for the tissue and bone recovery, while other applications could focus on filtration technologies and smart sensors.     

Advances in the scaffolds fabrication techniques using biocompatible polymers and their biomedical application: A technical and statistical review

With the advancement in tissue engineering, researchers are working hard on new techniques to fabricate more advanced scaffolds from biocompatible polymers with enhanced porosity, appropriate mechanical strength, diverse shapes and sizes for potential applications in biomedical field in general and tissue engineering in particular. These techniques include electrospinning, solution blow spinning, centrifugal spinning, particulate leaching (salt leaching), freeze-drying, lithography, self-assembly, phase separation, gas foaming, melt molding, 3-D printing, fiber mesh and solvent casting. In this article we have summarized the scaffold’s fabrication techniques from biocompatible polymers that are reported so far, the recent advances in these techniques, characterization of the physicochemical properties of scaffolds and their potential applications in the biomedical field and tissue engineering. The article will help both newcomers and experts working in the biomedical implant fabrication to not only find their desired information in one document but also understand the fabrication techniques and the parameters that control the success of biocompatible polymeric scaffolds. Furthermore, a static analysis of the work published in all forms on the most innovative techniques is also presented. The data is taken from Scopus, restricting the search to biomedical fields and tissue engineering.     

Carbohydrate-Based Scaffolds for the Generation of Sortiments of Bioactive Compounds

Summary.  The polyfunctionality and conformational rigidity of carbohydrates make this class of compounds ideal scaffolds for the production of sortiments¹ of bioactive compounds. Examples of carbohydrate-derived peptidomimetics of biological interest, such as somatostatin agonists and integrin antagonists, are presented. In order to have access to solid phase supported sortiments of compounds, orthogonally protected or unprotected carbohydrates were linked to polymers and reacted in the solid phase employing different regioselective strategies. Original bicyclic and tricyclic glycidic scaffolds were easily obtained starting from natural sugars such as D-arabinose and D-fructose. Manipulation of these conformationally blocked compounds afforded different carbohydrate-based derivatives, among which azidoacids are useful precursors of β-turn peptidomimetics. Received September 10, 2001. Accepted November 2, 2001     

多肽自组装技术及其在生物医学上的应用

多肽分子自组装广泛存在于自然界中。多肽具有良好的生物相容性和可调控的降解性能,并且利用多肽自组装技术,可以在分子水平上设计并调控聚集态的形状和结构,这在生物医学材料方面具有巨大的应用潜力。近年来关于多肽自组装的研究成为材料学、医学等领域中研究热点之一,并且在药物缓释载体、组织工程支架研究方面取得进展。本文介绍多肽分子自组装技术的概念,综述了多肽自组装技术在药物缓释载体材料、组织工程支架材料方面的应用。     

Synthesis of nitrogen-containing spirocyclic scaffolds via aminoallylation/RCM sequence

A concise route to nitrogen-containing spirocyclic scaffolds was developed. It is based on the allylation of imines derived from cyclic ketones. The resulting homoallylamines were subsequently alkylated with bromomethylmethacrylate resulting in propenyl-butenyl substituted amine derivatives. Basic amines such as 4 or 10 were cyclized with the Grubbs 2nd generation catalyst in the presence of pTsOH. Carbamate derivatives could be converted to tetrahydropiperidine derivatives with the same catalyst. It could be shown that the acrylate functionality can be degraded to the ketone using the classical sequence consisting of Curtius rearrangement of the derived acrylic acid followed by hydrolysis of the vinyl isocyanate. Other modifications include reduction of the acrylate double bond, saponification of the ester group, and amide formation.     

In vitro degradation and release behavior of porous poly(lactic acid) scaffolds containing chitosan microspheres as a carrier for BMP-2-derived synthetic peptide

To develop a novel tissue engineering scaffold with the capability of controlled releasing BMP-2-derived synthetic peptide, porous poly(lactic acid)/chitosan microspheres (PLA/CMs) composites containing different quantities of chitosan microspheres were prepared by a thermally induced phase separation method. FTIR analysis revealed that there were strong hydrogen bond interactions between the PLA and chitosan component. Introduction of less than 30% CMs (on PLA weight basis) did not remarkably affect the morphology and porosity of the PLA/CMs scaffolds. The compressive strength of the composite scaffolds increased from 0.48 to 0.66 MPa, while the compressive modulus increased from 7.29 to 8.23 MPa as the microspheres' contents increased from 0% to 50%. In vitro degradability investigation indicated that the dissolution of chitosan component was preferential than PLA matrix and the inclusion of CMs could neutralize the acidity of PLA degradation products. Compared with the rapid release from CMs, the synthetic peptide was released from PLA/CMs scaffolds in a temporally controlled manner, mainly depending on the degradation of PLA matrix. The promising microspheres based scaffold release system can be used to deliver bioactive factors for a variety of non-loaded bone regeneration and tissue engineering application.