Adjuvant Delivery Method and Nanoparticle Charge Influence Peptide Amphiphile Micelle Vaccine Bioactivity.

Vaccines are an indispensable public health measure that have enabled the eradication, near elimination, and prevention of a variety of pathogens. As research continues and our understanding of immunization strategies develops, subunit vaccines have emerged as exciting alternatives to existing whole vaccine approaches. Unfortunately, subunit vaccines often possess weak antigenicity, requiring delivery devices and adjuvant supplementation to improve their utility.

Hydrogen Sulfide Delivery to Enhance Bone Tissue Engineering Cell Survival.

Though crucial for natural bone healing, local calcium ion (Ca) and phosphate ion (P) concentrations can exceed the cytotoxic limit leading to mitochondrial overload, oxidative stress, and cell death. For bone tissue engineering applications, HS can be employed as a cytoprotective molecule to enhance mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) tolerance to cytotoxic Ca/P concentrations. Varied concentrations of sodium hydrogen sulfide (NaSH), a fast-releasing HS donor, were applied to assess the influence of HS on MSC proliferation.

Inductive co-crosslinking of cellulose nanocrystal/chitosan hydrogels for the treatment of vertebral compression fractures.

Vertebral compression fractures are a very common consequence of osteoporosis for which injection of a non-biodegradable, non-bioactive, mechanically-stiff polymer bone cement into the vertebral body is the most common treatment. Recently, there has been growing interest in using bioactive, degradable, and bone biomechanics-matching products as an alternative approach for treating these fractures. In this research, we focused on creating injectable, chitosan-based hydrogels that can convey mechanical strength similar to vertebral bone as well as possess inherent osteoinductivity.