In situ electrostimulation drives a regenerative shift in the zone of infarcted myocardium.

Electrostimulation represents a well-known trophic factor for different tissues. In vitro electrostimulation of non-stem and stem cells induces myogenic predifferentiation and may be a powerful tool to generate cells with the capacity to respond to local areas of injury. We evaluated the effects of in vivo electrostimulation on infarcted myocardium using a miniaturized multiparameter implantable stimulator in rats.

Load-adaptive scaffold architecturing: a bioinspired approach to the design of porous additively manufactured scaffolds with optimized mechanical properties.

Computer-Aided Tissue Engineering (CATE) is based on a set of additive manufacturing techniques for the fabrication of patient-specific scaffolds, with geometries obtained from medical imaging. One of the main issues regarding the application of CATE concerns the definition of the internal architecture of the fabricated scaffolds, which, in turn, influences their porosity and mechanical strength. The present study envisages an innovative strategy for the fabrication of highly optimized structures, based on the a priori finite element analysis (FEA) of the physiological load set at the implant site.

A G-CSF functionalized PLLA scaffold for wound repair: An in vitro preliminary study.

Targeting wound repair, we developed an electrospun poly-L-lactide fibrous scaffold functionalized with G-CSF, a growth factor which is widely recognized as important in wound healing homeostasis. The scaffold was characterized in terms of morphology, mechanical properties and in vitro capacity to induce organization of co-cultures of murine fibroblasts and keratinocytes into a dermo-epidermal multilayered structure. Our findings are consistent with the promotion of a nonhostile environment, in which seeded cells could arrange themselves in an appropriate topographic distribution of elements at different levels of maturation up to a cornified epithelium on the top layer, resembling native skin.

A biomimetic three-layered compartmented scaffold for vascular tissue engineering.

Tissue engineering of vascular grafts still presents several shortcomings. Aiming to vascular regeneration, we developed a biomimetic multilayered scaffold with a middle pivotal collagen lamina between two functionalized layers of poly-L-lactide by means of electrospinning technique, with oriented drug-delivery capacity for the differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells seeded therein. Applying appropriate cytokines, the inner layer is able to act as a drug delivery system in order to generate a pro-angiogenic and anti-thrombotic environment and the outer one is used to induce the media and adventitia generation.

An innovative device to support Politzer manoeuvre.

Politzer manoeuvre causes retrograde inflation of the middle ear by forcing air through the Eustachian tube. It has been proposed as nonsurgical treatment of middle ear with effusion, Eustachian tube dysfunction and negative middle ear pressure from elevation changes. Even if Politzer manoeuvre can be considered a classical technique, it is generally performed without any feedback about its correctness neither about qualitative evidence about its efficacy.