Peptide inhibitors of MK2 show promise for inhibition of abdominal adhesions.

Background: Abdominal adhesions are a common side effect of surgical procedures with complications including infertility, chronic pain, and bowel obstruction, which may lead to the need for surgical lyses of the adhesions. Mitogen-activated protein kinase-activated protein kinase 2 (MK2) has been implicated in several diseases, involving inflammation and fibrosis. Thus, the development of a cell-penetrating peptide (CPP) that modulates MK2 activity may confer therapeutic benefit after abdominal surgery in general and more specifically after bowel anastomosis.

Cell penetrating peptides can exert biological activity: a review.

Cell penetrating peptides (CPPs) have been successful in delivering cargo into many different cell types and are an important alternative to other methods of permeation that might damage the integrity of the cell membrane. The traditional view of CPPs is that they are inert molecules that can be successfully used to deliver many cargos intracellularly. The goal of this review is to challenge this traditional understanding of CPPs.

Abdominal adhesions: current and novel therapies.

An adhesion occurs when two tissues that normally freely move past each other attach via a fibrous bridge. Abdominal adhesions place a tremendous clinical and financial burden on public health. Adhesions develop after nearly every abdominal surgery, commonly causing female infertility, chronic pelvic pain, and, most frequently, small bowel obstruction.

Increased osteoblast and decreased Staphylococcus epidermidis functions on nanophase ZnO and TiO2.

Many engineers and surgeons trace implant failure to poor osseointegration (or the bonding of an orthopedic implant to juxtaposed bone) and/or bacteria infection. By using novel nanotopographies, researchers have shown that nanostructured ceramics, carbon fibers, polymers, metals, and composites enhance osteoblast adhesion and calcium/phosphate mineral deposition. However, the function of bacteria on materials with nanostructured surfaces remains largely uninvestigated.

The effect of nanotopography on calcium and phosphorus deposition on metallic materials in vitro.

To date, long-term functions of osteoblasts leading to calcium and phosphorus mineral deposition on nanometals have not been determined. Nanometals are metals with constituent metal particles and/or surface features less than 100 nm in at least one dimension. For this reason, the objective of this in vitro study was to determine the amount of calcium and phosphorus mineral formation on microphase compared to nanophase Ti, Ti6Al4V, and CoCrMo cultured with and without osteoblasts (bone-forming cells).