Biomaterials patterned with discontinuous microwalls for vascular smooth muscle cell culture: biodegradable small diameter vascular grafts and stable cell culture substrates.

The medial layer of small diameter blood vessels contains circumferentially aligned vascular smooth muscle cells (vSMC) that possess contractile phenotype. In tissue-engineered constructs, these cellular characteristics are usually achieved by seeding planar scaffolds with vSMC, rolling the cell-laden scaffold into a tubular structure, and maturing the construct in a pulsatile bioreactor, a lengthy process that can take up to two months. During the maturation phase, the cells circumferentially orient, their contractile protein expression increases, and they obtain a contractile phenotype.

Direct intermolecular force measurements between functional groups and individual metallic or semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes.

Many electronic applications of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) require electronic homogeneity in order to maximally exploit their outstanding properties. Non-covalent separation is attractive as it is scalable and results in minimal alteration of nanotube properties. However, fundamental understanding of the metallicity-dependence of functional group interactions with nanotubes is still lacking; this lack is compounded by the absence of methods to directly measure these interactions.

Aligned 3D human aortic smooth muscle tissue via layer by layer technique inside microchannels with novel combination of collagen and oxidized alginate hydrogel.

Tissue engineering of the small diameter blood vessel medial layer has been challenging. Recreation of the circumferentially aligned multilayer smooth muscle tissue has been one of the major technical difficulties. Some research has utilized cyclic stress to align smooth muscle cells (SMCs) but due to the long time conditioning needed, it was not possible to use primary human cells because of expeditious senescence occurred .

A photopolymerized antimicrobial hydrogel coating derived from epsilon-poly-L-lysine.

Hydrogels made from epsilon-poly-l-lysine-graft-methacrylamide (EPL-MA) have been found to have impressive wide spectrum antimicrobial activity against both bacteria (specifically Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Serratia marcescens and Staphylococcus aureus) and fungi (specifically Candida albicans and Fusarium solani). The EPL-MA hydrogel also possesses in vitro biocompatibility and EPL-MA solution is relatively non-hemolytic: the concentration needed for onset of human red blood cell (hRBC) hemolysis is 12,500 μg/mL so that the selectivity for the pathogenic microorganisms over hRBCs is 230-1560. Further, EPL-MA hydrogel can be conveniently ultraviolet-immobilized onto plasma-treated plastic surfaces to form thin highly adherent antimicrobial hydrogel coatings for medical devices and implants.

A polycationic antimicrobial and biocompatible hydrogel with microbe membrane suctioning ability.

Despite advanced sterilization and aseptic techniques, infections associated with medical implants have not been eradicated. Most present coatings cannot simultaneously fulfil the requirements of antibacterial and antifungal activity as well as biocompatibility and reusability. Here, we report an antimicrobial hydrogel based on dimethyldecylammonium chitosan (with high quaternization)-graft-poly(ethylene glycol) methacrylate (DMDC-Q-g-EM) and poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate, which has excellent antimicrobial efficacy against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Fusarium solani.

Hydrogels based on dual curable chitosan-graft-polyethylene glycol-graft-methacrylate: application to layer-by-layer cell encapsulation.

Ultraviolet (UV) photo-cross-linkable hydrogels have been commonly used for three-dimensional (3D) encapsulation of cells. Previous UV cross-linkable hydrogels have employed one-shot hardening of mixtures of hydrogels and cells. Here we propose an alternative method of making hydrogel-encapsulated cell constructs through layer by layer (LBL) buildup of alternating layers of cells and hydrogel.

Regulating orientation and phenotype of primary vascular smooth muscle cells by biodegradable films patterned with arrays of microchannels and discontinuous microwalls.

Vascular smooth muscle cells (vSMCs) cultured in vitro are known to exhibit phenotype hyperplasticity. This plasticity is potentially very useful in tissue engineering of blood vessels. The synthetic phenotype is necessary for cell proliferation on the tissue scaffold but the cells must ultimately assume a quiescent, contractile phenotype for normal vascular function.

Addition of beta-malic acid-containing poly(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate to form biodegradable and biocompatible hydrogels.

Poly(malic acid) is water-soluble, functionalizable, and biodegradable, making it attractive as a precursor of hydrogels for biomedical applications. However, homopoly(malic acid), with pK(1/2) of 4.3, is too acidic for biocompatibility.

Synthesis and characterization of functionalized biodegradable poly(DL-lactide-co-RS-beta-malic acid).

Amorphous poly(DL-lactide-co-RS-beta-malic acid) (PDLLMAc) was synthesized by hydrogenolysis of poly(DL-lactide-co-RS-beta-malolactonate) (PDLLMA), which was obtained from the ring-opening polymerization of DL-lactide (DLLA) and RS-beta-benzyl malolactonate (MA) using stannous octoate as the catalyst. The amount of malolactonate (MA) in the feeding dose was varied from 0 to 8.0 mol %.

Synthesis and application of mono-2A-azido-2A-deoxyperphenylcarbamoylated beta-cyclodextrin and mono-2A-azido-2A-deoxyperacetylated beta-cyclodextrin as chiral stationary phases for high-performance liquid chromatography.

Two novel chiral stationary phases (CSPs) were prepared based upon the regioselective immobilizations of beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) at its C2 position to the silica support. The mono-2A-azido-2A-deoxyperphenylcarbamoylated beta-cyclodextrin and mono-2A-azido-2A-deoxyperacetylated beta-cyclodextrin were synthesized by selective tosylation and azidolysis followed by perfunctionalisation. The derivatised cyclodextrins were then immobilized onto the aminised silica gel via the Staudinger reaction to provide new chiral stationary phases.