Structural and sorption properties of bio-nanocomposite films based on κ-carrageenan and cellulose nanocrystals

There is an increased interest on changing the synthetic based materials to biodegradable ones, especially with natural polymers, polysaccharides or proteins. In this research we prepared bio-nanocomposite formulations with different component concentrations and investigated their structural features, with focus on the interactions, sorption properties, and how the combination between them influences these properties. By infrared spectroscopy, principal component analysis (PCA) and two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2DCOS) was identified that in the blending process are involved the −SO4 and C(4)-O-S groups of β-d-galactose, CO groups, (O=S=O) of carrageenan and –OH and CO groups from CNCs.The water uptake and water sorption properties decrease with increasing the CNCs content in the formulations from about 15% for κ to 10% for κC15 and from about 128% for κ to 115% for κC15, respectively. The increase of the CNCs content induced an increase of the water contact angle from 47° for κ to 90° for κC15, indicating once again the involvement of the free hydroxyl groups in the hydrogen bonded interactions

VLA4-Enhanced Allogeneic Endothelial Progenitor Cell-Based Therapy Preserves the Aortic Valve Function in a Mouse Model of Dyslipidemia and Diabetes

The number and function of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are reduced in diabetes, contributing to deteriorated vascular repair and the occurrence of cardiovascular complications. Here, we present the results of treating early diabetic dyslipidemic mice or dyslipidemic with disease-matched EPCs modified to overexpress VLA4 (VLA4-EPCs) as compared with the treatment of EPCs transfected with GFP (GFP-EPCs) as well as EPCs from healthy animals. Organ imaging of injected PKH26-stained cells showed little pulmonary first-pass effects and distribution in highly vascularized organs, with splenic removal from circulation, mostly in non-diabetic animals. Plasma measurements showed pronounced dyslipidemia in all animals and glycaemia indicative of diabetes in streptozotocin-injected animals. Echocardiographic measurements performed 3 days after the treatment showed significantly improved aortic valve function in animals treated with VLA4-overexpressing EPCs compared with GFP-EPCs, and similar results in the groups treated with healthy EPCs and VLA4-EPCs. Immunohistochemical analyses revealed active inflammation and remodelling in all groups but different profiles, with higher MMP9 and lower P-selectin levels in GFP-EPCs, treated animals. In conclusion, our experiments show that genetically modified allogeneic EPCs might be a safe treatment option, with bioavailability in the desired target compartments and the ability to preserve aortic valve function in dyslipidemia and diabetes

P-selectin targeted RAGE-shRNA lipoplexes alleviate atherosclerosis-associated inflammation

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Research and Science Today No. 1(7)/2014

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