Deconvolution of the relaxations associated with local and segmental motions in poly(methacrylate)s containing dichlorinated benzyl moieties in the ester residue

9 pages, 15 figures, 1 scheme.The relaxation behavior of poly(2,3-dichlorobenzyl methacrylate) is studied by broadband dielectric spectroscopy in the frequency range of 10–1–109 Hz and temperature interval of 303–423 K. The isotherms representing the dielectric loss of the glassy polymer in the frequency domain present a single absorption, called B process. At temperatures close to Tg, the dynamical (alfa) relaxation already overlaps with the (beta) process, the degree of overlapping increasing with temperature. The deconvolution of the (alfa) and (beta) relaxations is facilitated using the retardation spectra calculated from the isotherms utilizing linear programming regularization parameter techniques. The temperature dependence of the (beta) relaxation presents a crossover associated with a change in activation energy of the local processes. The distance between the (alfa) and (beta) peaks, expressed as log(fmax;/fmax;) where fmax is the frequency at the peak maximum, follows Arrhenius behavior in the temperature range of 310–384 K. Above 384 K, the distance between the peaks remains nearly constant and, as a result, the (alfa) onset temperature exhibited for many polymers is not reached in this system. The fraction of relaxation carried out through the (alfa) process, without (beta) assistance, is larger than 60% in the temperature range of 310–384 K where the so-called Williams ansatz holds.This work was financially suported by the DGCYT and CAM through Grant Nos. MAT2002-04042-C02 and GR/ MAT/0723/2004. Two of the authors (L.G. and D.R.) thank the FONDECYT for partial financial support through Grant Nos. 21050956 and 1050962, respectively.Peer reviewe

Different Culture Media Affect Proliferation, Surface Epitope Expression, and Differentiation of Ovine MSC

Orthopedic implants including engineered bone tissue are commonly tested in sheep. To avoid rejection of heterologous or xenogeneic cells, autologous cells are preferably used, that is, ovine mesenchymal stem cells (oMSC). Unlike human MSC, ovine MSC are not well studied regarding isolation, expansion, and characterization. Here we investigated the impact of culture media composition on growth characteristics, differentiation, and surface antigen expression of oMSC. The culture media varied in fetal calf serum (FCS) content and in the addition of supplements and/or additional epidermal growth factor (EGF). We found that FCS strongly influenced oMSC proliferation and that specific combinations of supplemental factors (MCDB-201, ITS-plus, dexamethasone, and L-ascorbic acid) determined the expression of surface epitopes. We compared two published protocols for oMSC differentiation towards the osteogenic, adipogenic, and chondrogenic fate and found (i) considerable donor to donor variations, (ii) protocol-dependent variations, and (iii) variations resulting from the preculture medium composition. Our results indicate that the isolation and culture of oMSC in different growth media are highly variable regarding oMSC phenotype and behaviour. Furthermore, variations from donor to donor critically influence growth rate, surface marker expression, and differentiation