A self-healing hydrogel eye drop for the sustained delivery of decorin to prevent corneal scarring.

Scarring/Opacity on the surface of the eye and vascularisation following infectious diseases, inflammation and corneal trauma are often a leading cause of blindness. The 'gold standard' treatment to prevent corneal scarring is the application of amniotic membrane (AM) to the ocular surface in the acute stage of injury. Although clinically effective, the use of the AM is associated with biological variability and unpredictable responses.

Sustained release of decorin to the surface of the eye enables scarless corneal regeneration.

Disorganization of the transparent collagenous matrix in the cornea, as a consequence of a variety of infections and inflammatory conditions, leads to corneal opacity and sight-loss. Such corneal opacities are a leading cause of blindness, according to the WHO. Public health programs target prevention of corneal scarring, but the only curative treatment of established scarring is through transplantation.

Structuring of Hydrogels across Multiple Length Scales for Biomedical Applications.

The development of new materials for clinical use is limited by an onerous regulatory framework, which means that taking a completely new material into the clinic can make translation economically unfeasible. One way to get around this issue is to structure materials that are already approved by the regulator, such that they exhibit very distinct physical properties and can be used in a broader range of clinical applications. Here, the focus is on the structuring of soft materials at multiple length scales by modifying processing conditions.

Advances in keratinocyte delivery in burn wound care.

This review gives an updated overview on keratinocyte transplantation in burn wounds concentrating on application methods and future therapeutic cell delivery options with a special interest in hydrogels and spray devices for cell delivery. To achieve faster re-epithelialisation of burn wounds, the original autologous keratinocyte culture and transplantation technique was introduced over 3 decades ago. Application types of keratinocytes transplantation have improved from cell sheets to single-cell solutions delivered with a spray system.

Thermosensitive hydrogel as an in situ gelling antimicrobial ocular dressing.

Microbial keratitis is a severe ocular condition and one of the most prevalent causes of corneal scarring and associated blindness worldwide. Risk factors include contact lens use, ocular trauma, ocular surface disease and immunosuppression. Initial clinical management mandates intensive (hourly or more frequent) topical administration of broad spectrum antimicrobial therapy for at least 48h, which may require hospital admission, followed by tailored therapy based on microbiological investigation and the institution of strategies to reduce inflammation and promote healing.

Modification of gellan gum with nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite facilitates cell expansion and spontaneous osteogenesis.

Nanocomposites composed of hydrogels and calcium phosphates are of great interest in the development of bone graft replacements since they may have a structural and compositional resemblance to bone. Culture beads formed from such materials could be used in stirred tank culture and thereby enable cell expansion in a sufficiently efficient manner to allow for the generation of enough large number of cells for large-scale bone reconstruction. Although combinations of materials such as alginate, collagens, and various calcium phosphates have been investigated as culture beads, these materials are unsuitable for application since they have been shown to rapidly degrade in physiological conditions and enable relatively little tailoring of mechanical properties.