2 research outputs found
Injectable Alginate Hydrogel Cross-Linked by Calcium Gluconate-Loaded Porous Microspheres for Cartilage Tissue Engineering
A great interest has been shown in
the injectable scaffolds for
cartilage tissue regeneration because it can fill irregularly shaped
defects easily through minimally invasive surgical treatments. Herein,
we developed a new injectable three-dimensional (3D) alginate hydrogel
loaded with biodegradable porous polyÂ(ε-caprolactone)–<i>b</i>-polyÂ(ethylene glycol)–<i>b</i>-polyÂ(ε-caprolactone)
microspheres (MPs/Alg) as the calcium gluconate container to cross-link
alginate. Suspensions of chondrocytes/alginate and porous microspheres
turned into a gel because of the release of calcium gluconate; thus,
the injectable composite hydrogels give a 3D scaffold to fit the defects
perfectly and integrate the extracellular-matrix-mimicking architecture
to efficiently accommodate cartilage cells in situ. Tissue repair
in a full-thickness cartilage defect model was controlled at 6, 12,
and 18 weeks after the implant by micro-CT and immunohistochemistry
to evaluate the healing status. The defect in the MPs/Alg+
cells group achieved an almost complete repair at 18 weeks, and the
repaired chondrocytes regained a normal tissue structure. Moreover,
the MPs/Alg+ cells-treated group increased the quality of tissue formed,
including the accumulated glycosaminoglycan and the uniformly deposited
type II collagen. The results point out the promising application
of the injectable MPs/Alg-chondrocytes system for cartilage tissue
engineering
Novel Approach of Using Near-Infrared Responsive PEGylated Gold Nanorod Coated Poly(l‑lactide) Microneedles to Enhance the Antitumor Efficiency of Docetaxel-Loaded MPEG-PDLLA Micelles for Treating an A431 Tumor
The
combination of chemotherapy and photothermal therapy (PTT) plays a
significant role in synergistic tumor therapy. However, a high dosage
of chemotherapy drugs or photothermal agents may cause series side
effects. To overcome these challenges, we designed a near-infrared
(NIR) responsive PEGylated gold nanorod (GNR-PEG) coated polyÂ(l-lactide) microneedle (PLLA MN) system (GNR-PEG@MN) to enhance
antitumor efficiency of docetaxel-loaded MPEG-PDLLA (MPEG-PDLLA-DTX)
micelles for treating an A431 tumor. The as-made GNR-PEG@MNs contained
only 31.83 ± 1.22 μg of GNR-PEG per patch and exhibited
excellent heating efficacy both <i>in vitro</i> and <i>in vivo</i>. Meanwhile, GNR-PEG@MN with the height of 480 μm
had good skin insertion ability and was harmless to the skin. On the
other hand, GNR-PEG@MN had good heating transfer ability <i>in
vivo</i>, and the tumor sites could reach 50 °C within 5
min. In comparison with chemotherapy and PTT alone, the combination
of low dosage MPEG-PDLLA-DTX micelles (5 mg/kg) and GNR-PEG@MNs completely
eradicated the A431 tumor without recurrence <i>in vivo</i>, demonstrating a remarkable synergetic effect. Hence, GNR-PEG@MN
could be a promising carrier to enhance the antitumor effect of MPEG-PDLLA-DTX
micelles for treating superficial tumors and is expected to have a
great potential in clinical translation for human epidermoid cancer
therapy