pH-controlled delivery of gentamicin sulfate from orthopedic devices preventing nosocomial infections.

Since the beginning of the 1970s, controlled release technology has witnessed great advancement, and motivated numerous researchers in materials science. These systems overcome the drawbacks of traditional drug dosage form, and offer more effective and favorable methods to optimize drug delivery in optimum dose to specific sites or to prolong delivery duration. This paper deals with the synthesis of pH-controlled drug delivery systems for bone implant, allowing the local release of gentamicin sulfate (GS), an antibiotic commonly used to prevent infections during orthopedic surgeries.

Altered nanofeature size dictates stem cell differentiation.

The differentiation of stem cells can be modulated by physical factors such as the micro- and nano-topography of the extracellular matrix. One important goal in stem cell research is to understand the concept that directs differentiation into a specific cell lineage in the nanoscale environment. Here, we demonstrate that such paths exist by controlling only the micro- and nano-topography of polymer surfaces.

Cytotoxicity and oxidative stress induced by different metallic nanoparticles on human kidney cells.

Background: Some manufactured nanoparticles are metal-based and have a wide variety of applications in electronic, engineering and medicine. Until now, many studies have described the potential toxicity of NPs on pulmonary target, while little attention has been paid to kidney which is considered to be a secondary target organ. The objective of this study, on human renal culture cells, was to assess the toxicity profile of metallic nanoparticles (TiO2, ZnO and CdS) usable in industrial production.

Subcutaneous-induced membranes have no osteoinductive effect on macroporous HA-TCP in vivo.

Induced Membranes Technique was first described to enhance bone reconstruction of large osseous defects. Previous in vitro studies established their osteoinductive potential, due to the presence of opteoblasts precursors and to high amounts of growth factors contained within. The purpose of this study was to test in vivo the osteoinductive properties of induced membranes on a macroporous HA-TCP in a nonosseous subcutaneous site.

RGD peptides grafting onto poly(ethylene terephthalate) with well controlled densities.

The aim of this study was to graft RGD peptides with well controlled densities onto poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) film surfaces. Biomimetic modifications were performed by means of a four-step reaction procedure: surface modification in order to create -COOH groups onto polymer surface, coupling agent grafting and finally immobilization of peptides. The originality of this work is to evaluate several grafted densities peptides.