Current state‐of‐the‐art management of open spina bifida defects entails an open fetal surgery approach associated with significant morbidities. In an attempt to reduce these risks and provide for an earlier minimally invasive repair, it is aimed to develop and characterize an innovative alternative using a unique reverse thermal gel. This study focuses on characterization of the physical and biological properties of the polymer and its in vivo applicability. Based on the knowledge and benchmarking, the “ideal” biomaterial should have the following characteristics: stability in amniotic fluid, limited permeability, biocompatibility, biologically functional, nontoxic, ability to support cellular functions, and in vivo applicability. The results demonstrate that the polymer possesses a unique ultrastructure, is stable in amniotic fluid, possesses limited yet predictable permeability, biocompatible with cells exposed in neural tube defects, is nontoxic, and can support cellular migration. These characteristics make it a potential novel alternative to open fetal repairs.
In high pressure calorimetry the pressure change is used to obtain the desired phenomenon (i.e. phase change) at constant
temperature. Two high pressure calorimeters have been developed to measure the latent heat of fusion of pure water (hexagonal
ice-type I) at subzero temperature. Both calorimeters used a constant pressurisation rate produced with a high pressure pump
driven by a step motor. The first calorimeter was a single cell calorimeter where mercury acted as the pressurisation fluid,
while the second one was differential (two cells) and was pressurised with pentane. Both calorimeters gave high accuracy data
of latent heat of fusion of pure water, which were determined taking into account that either the fluid used to pressurise
or the pressurisation rate affected the calorimetric signal.
This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. 相似文献
