Silk Fibroin Biomaterial Shows Safe and Effective Wound Healing in Animal Models and a Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial.

Due to its excellent biological and mechanical properties, silk fibroin has been intensively explored for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications. However, lack of translational evidence has hampered its clinical application for tissue repair. Here a silk fibroin film is developed and its translational potential is investigated for skin repair by performing comprehensive preclinical and clinical studies to fully evaluate its safety and effectiveness.

Decoration of silk fibroin by click chemistry for biomedical application.

Silkfibroin (SF) has an excellent biocompatibility and its remarkable structure translates into exciting mechanical properties rendering this biomaterial particularly fascinating for biomedical application. To further boost the material's biological/preclinical impact, SF is decorated with biologics, typically by carbodiimide/N-hydroxysuccinimide coupling (EDC/NHS). For biomedical application, this chemistry challenges the product risk profile due to the formation of covalent aggregates, particularly when decoration is with biologics occurring naturally in humans as these aggregates may prime for autoimmunity.

Enhancement of electrochemical differentiation ability of nucleobases in phosphate buffer solution at pH 7.4.

The electrochemical behavior of nucleobases has been studied in 0.1 M phosphate buffer solution at pH 7.4, using a bare graphite electrode.

Carbodiimide crosslinked collagen from porcine dermal matrix for high-strength tissue engineering scaffold.

Naturally-derived collagens for tissue engineering are limited by low mechanical strength and rapid degradation. In this study, carbodiimide is used to chemically modify the collagen derived from porcine acellular dermal matrix (PADM). The results show that the strength and resistance of PADM to enzymatic digestion can be adjusted by the reconnection of free amino and carboxyl groups of the collagen fibers.

The promotion of osteochondral repair by combined intra-articular injection of parathyroid hormone-related protein and implantation of a bi-layer collagen-silk scaffold.

The repair of osteochondral defects can be enhanced with scaffolds but is often accompanied with undesirable terminal differentiation of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs). Parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) has been shown to inhibit aberrant differentiation, but administration at inappropriate time points would have adverse effects on chondrogenesis. This study aims to develop an effective tissue engineering strategy by combining PTHrP and collagen-silk scaffold for osteochondral defect repair.

Nano-p-n junction heterostructure TiO nanobelts for the electrochemical detection of anticancer drug and biointeractions with cancer cells.

Nano-p-n junction heterostructures based on TiO nanobelts with enhanced (001) facets were produced by assembling p-type semiconductor NiO nanoparticles on n-type surface-coarsened TiO nanobelt surfaces. The heterostructures were then used as the sensing electrode for the electrochemical detection of anticancer drugs O-benzylguanine (OBG) and lung cancer cells. OBG exhibited an irreversible diffusion-controlled electrochemical process with an oxidation peak clearly identified at +0.

Ultrasonic irradiation assisted surface modification of titanium plates to improve MC3T3-E1 cell proliferation.

The surface modification of titanium implants by NaOH has been widely investigated to improve their biocompatibility and bioactivity. It is very important to prepare an even network structure on titanium implants. In this work, ultrasonic irradiation (UI) is used along two different routes to obtain several modified surfaces on titanium plates: (1) the plates are first treated by a NaOH solution, and then UI is used to wash them in double distilled water; (2) the plates are modified by a NaOH solution in an ultrasonic cleaner with UI at 50 W.

Construction of a fluorescent nanostructured chitosan-hydroxyapatite scaffold by nanocrystallon induced biomimetic mineralization and its cell biocompatibility.

Biomaterial surfaces and their nanostructures can significantly influence cell growth and viability. Thus, manipulating surface characteristics of scaffolds can be a potential strategy to control cell functions for stem cell tissue engineering. In this study, in order to construct a hydroxyapatite (HAp) coated genipin-chitosan conjugation scaffold (HGCCS) with a well-defined HAp nanostructured surface, we have developed a simple and controllable approach that allows construction of a two-level, three-dimensional (3D) networked structure to provide sufficient calcium source and achieve desired mechanical function and mass transport (permeability and diffusion) properties.

A 2,7-carbazole-based dicationic salt for fluorescence detection of nucleic acids and two-photon fluorescence imaging of RNA in nucleoli and cytoplasm.

A new carbazole-derived dicationic compound, namely 2,7-bis(1-hydroxyethyl-4-vinylpyridinium iodine)-N-ethylcarbazole (2,7-9E-BHVC), with a large two-photon action absorption cross section in nucleic acids has been obtained. Moreover, it possesses the potential of imaging RNA in nucleoli and cytoplasm in two-photon fluorescence microscopy and exhibits good counterstain compatibility with the commercial fluorescent nucleic dye DAPI.

Chemical assembly of TiO2 and TiO2@Ag nanoparticles on silk fiber to produce multifunctional fabrics.

A carefully designed surface modification technique for the manufacture of multifunctional silk textile nanocomposite materials is successfully developed by the functionalization of silk with TiO(2) and TiO(2)@Ag nanoparticles (NPs). The NPs are assembled onto a silk substrate through covalent linkages, including enediol ligand-metal oxide bonding, resin dehydration and the acylation of silk. Owing to the strong chemical bonding, silk fibroin fabric (SFF) and the NPs form a stable composite system.

In vitro assessment of the differentiation potential of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells on genipin-chitosan conjugation scaffold with surface hydroxyapatite nanostructure for bone tissue engineering.

Increasing evidence has revealed that the surface characteristics of biomaterials, such as chemical composition, stiffness, and topography, especially nanotopography, significantly influence cell growth and differentiation. In this study, we examined the effect of surface biomimetic apatite nanostructure of a new hydroxyapatite-coated genipin-chitosan conjugation scaffold (HGCCS) on cell shape, cytoskeleton organization, and osteogenic differentiation of rat bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells in vitro. Cell shape and cytoskeleton organization showed significant differences between cells cultured on genipin-cross-linked chitosan framework and those cultured on HGCCS with surface apatite network-like nanostructure after 7 days of incubation in the osteogenic medium.

In vitro biomimetic construction of hydroxyapatite-porcine acellular dermal matrix composite scaffold for MC3T3-E1 preosteoblast culture.

The application of porous hydroxyapatite-collagen (HAp-Collagen) as a bone tissue engineering scaffold is hindered by two main problems: its high cost and low initial strength. As a native 3-dimenssional collagen framework, purified porcine acellular dermal matrix (PADM) has been successfully used as a skin tissue engineering scaffold. Here we report its application as a matrix for the preparation of HAp to produce a bone tissue scaffold through a biomimetic chemical process.

A series of carbazole cationic compounds with large two-photon absorption cross sections for imaging mitochondria in living cells with two-photon fluorescence microscopy.

A series of carbazole cationic compounds based on donor- Π-acceptor (D-Π-A) structure were synthesized and characterized. They exhibit large two-photon absorption cross sections when excited by a 810 nm a laser beam, and their photophysical properties show that the intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) character is predominant. Moreover these compounds can easily pass though the intact cell membrane of living cells, amongst, 3-(1-hydroxyethyl-4-vinylpyridium iodine)-N-butyl carbazole (9B-HVC) has been proven to be capable of accumulating within the mitochondria possessing large membrane potential and imaging this organelle in living cells by means of two-photon fluorescence microscopy.

Synthesis of mesoporous structured hydroxyapatite particles using yeast cells as the template.

In this study, hydroxyapatite (HAp) particles with mesoporous structure have been synthesized from calcium hydroxide and di-ammonium hydrogen phosphate using yeast cells as the template. The characterization methods such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectrograph (FTIR), N(2) adsorption-desorption isotherms (NADI), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) were used for determination of the particles structure (particle size, structural evolution and morphology). The results show that HAp particles with mesoporous structure could be produced.

Microwave-assisted synthesis of anatase TiO(2) nanorods with mesopores.

Pure anatase TiO(2) nanorods with mesopores were synthesized by a simple and low cost microwave-assisted method when tri-block copolymer was used as a structure stabilization agent and TiCl(4) as metal precursor. TEM investigation showed that larger nanorods were assembled by pearl-necklace-shaped nanorods following an oriented attachment mechanism in a specific direction. A proposed hypothetical scheme showed that the formation of lyotropic titania liquid crystal (TLC) serves a key role in the stabilization of nanorods, and the mesopores on nanorods are derived from the vacancy of inter-particles of nanorods and regions lacking inorganic precursors in the TLC structure.