Novel biobased polymeric electrospun nanofibers with high antibacterial efficacy

Development of antibacterial electrospun non-woven meshes is of critical importance in several areas such as healthcare products, food packaging, water and air filtration. In this work a novel biocidal polymer, which results active against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, was synthesized starting from the biobased ricinoleic acid monomer (RA) and processed through electrospinning in combination with a biodegradable polymer poly(butylene succinate) (PBS), through a blending approach. The optimization of electrospinning process parameters allowed fabrication of defect-free nanofibers with uniform fiber diameter distribution. The chemical, physical and mechanical properties of the obtained non woven meshes were characterized and related to mesh structure and composition. The electrospun constructs were microbiologically evaluated and antibacterials tests confirmed their high biocidal efficacy. Mortality rate of E.Coli and S.Aureus was very high and it increased with the amount of PRA in the blends. Notably, the antimicrobial performances of the meshes were retained after 3 cycles of incubation with cell bacterial suspension. The obtained biobased and biodegradable antibacterial electrospun meshes can find useful application in several sectors

Nitrones and nucleobase-containing spiro-isoxazolidines derived from isatin and indanone: Solvent-free microwave-assisted stereoselective synthesis and theoretical calculations

The spiro-oxindoles have found wide application because of their antiviral properties. However, in the literature few examples of synthesis of their precursors, oxindole-nitrones, are reported. In this paper, we initially present a rapid and efficient synthetic approach to ketonitrones by solvent-free microwave-assisted reaction between isatin or indanone derivatives and various hydroxylamines. The synthetic protocol is facile, clean, fast, high-yielding and stereoselective. Then, we explored the possibility to synthesize nucleobase-containing spiro-isoxazolidines with isatin and indanone nuclei by solvent-free MW-assisted 1, 3-dipolar cycloaddition, obtaining good results in yields (74-85%), and regio- and diastereoselectivity. Theoretical calculations were done to analyze the difference of reactivity of isatin and indanone derivatives with hydroxylamines

Hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells express functional mitochondrial energy-dependent cystic fibrosis trans membrane conductance regulator.

Bone marrow-derived hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) encompass a wide array of cell subsets with different capacities of engraftment and injured tissue-regenerating potential. The characterization/isolation of the stem cell subpopulations represents a major challenge to improve the efficacy of transplantation protocols used in regenerative medicine. Cystic fibrosis (CF) is one of the diseases whose hope of cure relies on the successful application of cell-based gene therapy. This study was aimed at characterizing murine HSPCs on the basis of their bioenergetic competence and CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) expression. Positively immunoselected Sca-1 + HSPCs encompassed 2 populations distinguished by their different size, Sca-1 expression and mitochondrial content. The smaller were the cells, the higher was Sca-1 expression and the lower was the intracellular density of functional mitochondria. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and western blotting revealed that HSPCs expressed CFTR mRNA and protein, which was also functional, as assessed by spectrofluorimetric and patch-clamp techniques. Inhibition of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation by oligomycin resulted in a 70% decrease of both the intracelluar adenosine triphosphate content and CFTR-mediated channel activity. Finally, HSPCs with lower Sca-1 expression and higher mitochondrial content displayed higher CFTR levels. Our findings identify 2 subpopulations in HSPCs and unveil a so-far unappreciated relationship between bioenergetic metabolism and CFTR in HSPC biology