Three-dimensional (3D) printing technology enables the design of new drug delivery systems for personalised medicine. Polymers that can be molten are needed to obtain extruded filaments for Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM), one of the most frequently employed techniques for 3D printing. The aim of this work was to evaluate the extrusion process and the physical appearance of filaments made of a hydrophilic polymer and a non-molten model drug. Metformin was used as model drug and Affinisol™ 15LV as the main carrier. Drug-loaded filaments were obtained by using a single-screw extruder and, subsequently, their printability was tested. Blends containing up to a 60% and 50% drug load with 5% and 7.5% of auxiliary excipients, respectively, were successfully extruded. Between the obtained filaments, those containing up to 50% of the drug were suitable for use in FDM 3D printing. The studied parameters, including residence time, flow speed, brittleness, and fractal dimension, reflect a critical point in the extrusion process at between 30-40% drug load. This finding could be essential for understanding the behaviour of filaments containing a non-molten component.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics14040871 | DOI Listing |
Sci Adv
January 2025
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
Understanding chromatin organization requires integrating measurements of genome connectivity and physical structure. It is well established that cohesin is essential for TAD and loop connectivity features in Hi-C, but the corresponding change in physical structure has not been studied using electron microscopy. Pairing chromatin scanning transmission electron tomography with multiomic analysis and single-molecule localization microscopy, we study the role of cohesin in regulating the conformationally defined chromatin nanoscopic packing domains.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Funct Biomater
January 2025
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA 01609, USA.
Large skeletal muscle injuries such as volumetric muscle loss (VML) disrupt native tissue structures, including biophysical and biochemical signaling cues that promote the regeneration of functional skeletal muscle. Various biofabrication strategies have been developed to create engineered skeletal muscle constructs that mimic native matrix and cellular microenvironments to enhance muscle regeneration; however, there remains a need to create scalable engineered tissues that provide mechanical stability as well as structural and spatiotemporal signaling cues to promote cell-mediated regeneration of contractile skeletal muscle. We describe a novel strategy for bioprinting multifunctional myoblast-loaded fibrin microthreads (myothreads) that recapitulate the cellular microniches to drive myogenesis and aligned myotube formation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGels
January 2025
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA.
Stimuli-responsive hydrogels hold immense promise for biomedical applications, but conventional gelation processes often struggle to achieve the precision and complexity required for advanced functionalities such as soft robotics, targeted drug delivery, and tissue engineering. This study introduces a class of 3D-printable magnetic hydrogels with tunable stiffness, adhesion, and magnetic responsiveness, prepared through a simple and efficient "one-pot" method. This approach enables precise control over the hydrogel's mechanical properties, with an elastic modulus ranging from 43 kPa to 277 kPa, tensile strength from 93 kPa to 421 kPa, and toughness from 243 kJ/m to 1400 kJ/m, achieved by modulating the concentrations of acrylamide (AM) and FeO nanoparticles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiomimetics (Basel)
January 2025
Macromolecular Chemistry and New Polymeric Materials, Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 3, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands.
Wood plastic composites (WPCs) offer a means to reduce the carbon footprint by incorporating natural fibers to enhance the mechanical properties. However, there is limited information on the mechanical properties of these materials under hostile conditions. This study evaluated composites of polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), and polylactic acid (PLA) processed via extrusion and injection molding.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Rep
January 2025
College of Mechanical and Transportation Engineering, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming, 650224, China.
The current piston material, Al-12Si, lacks sufficient passivation in the acidic lubrication system of biodiesel engines, making it prone to corrosion in the presence of Cl. Fe amorphous particles exhibit good compatibility with Al-12Si, possessing strong corrosion resistance, excellent passivation ability, and good high-temperature stability. They are a potential reinforcement for enhancing the Al-12Si piston material.
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