Modified Gellan Gum hydrogels with tunable physical and mechanical properties

Gellan Gum (GG) has been recently proposed for tissue engineering applications. GG hydrogels are produced by physical crosslinking methods induced by temperature variation or by the presence of divalent cations. However, physical crosslinking methods may yield hydrogels that become weaker in physiological conditions due to the exchange of divalent cations by monovalent ones. Hence, this work presents a new class of GG hydrogels crosslinkable by both physical and chemical mechanisms. Methacrylate groups were incorporated in the GG chain, leading to the production of a methacrylated Gellan Gum (MeGG) hydrogel with highly tunable physical and mechanical properties. The chemical modification was confirmed by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR-ATR). The mechanical properties of the developed hydrogel networks, with Young's modulus values between 0.15 and 148 kPa, showed to be tuned by the different crosslinking mechanisms used. The in vitro swelling kinetics and hydrolytic degradation rate were dependent on the crosslinking mechanisms used to form the hydrogels. Three-dimensional (3D) encapsulation of NIH-3T3 fibroblast cells in MeGG networks demonstrated in vitro biocompatibility confirmed by high cell survival. Given the highly tunable mechanical and degradation properties of MeGG, it may be applicable for a wide range of tissue engineering approaches.This research was funded by the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center, the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnology, the NIH (HL092836, DE019024, EB007249), and the National Science Foundation CAREER award (AK). This work was partially supported by FCT, through funds from the POCTI and/or FEDER programs and from the European Union under the project NoE EXPERTISSUES (NMP3-CT-2004-500283). DFC acknowledges the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), Portugal and the MIT-Portugal Program for personal grant SFRH/BD/37156/2007. HS was supported by a Samsung Scholarship. SS acknowledges the postdoctoral fellowship awarded by Fonds de Recherche sur la Nature et les Technologies (FQRNT), Quebec, Canada. We would like to thank Dr. Che Hutson for scientific discussions

Current strategies for treatment of intervertebral disc degeneration: substitution and regeneration possibilities

Background: Intervertebral disc degeneration has an annual worldwide socioeconomic impact masked as low back pain of over 70 billion euros. This disease has a high prevalence over the working age class, which raises the socioeconomic impact over the years. Acute physical trauma or prolonged intervertebral disc mistreatment triggers a biochemical negative tendency of catabolic-anabolic balance that progress to a chronic degeneration disease. Current biomedical treatments are not only ineffective in the long-run, but can also cause degeneration to spread to adjacent intervertebral discs. Regenerative strategies are desperately needed in the clinics, such as: minimal invasive nucleus pulposus or annulus fibrosus treatments, total disc replacement, and cartilaginous endplates decalcification. Main Body: Herein, it is reviewed the state-of-the-art of intervertebral disc regeneration strategies from the perspective of cells, scaffolds, or constructs, including both popular and unique tissue engineering approaches. The premises for cell type and origin selection or even absence of cells is being explored. Choice of several raw materials and scaffold fabrication methods are evaluated. Extensive studies have been developed for fully regeneration of the annulus fibrosus and nucleus pulposus, together or separately, with a long set of different rationales already reported. Recent works show promising biomaterials and processing methods applied to intervertebral disc substitutive or regenerative strategies. Facing the abundance of studies presented in the literature aiming intervertebral disc regeneration it is interesting to observe how cartilaginous endplates have been extensively neglected, being this a major source of nutrients and water supply for the whole disc. Conclusion: Severalinnovative avenues for tackling intervertebral disc degeneration are being reported â from acellular to cellular approaches, but the cartilaginous endplates regeneration strategies remain unaddressed. Interestingly, patient-specific approaches show great promise in respecting patient anatomy and thus allow quicker translation to the clinics in the near future.The authors would like to acknowledge the support provided by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through the project EPIDisc (UTAP-EXPL/BBBECT/0050/2014), funded in the Framework of the “International Collaboratory for Emerging Technologies, CoLab”, UT Austin|Portugal Program. The FCT distinctions attributed to J. Miguel Oliveira (IF/00423/2012 and IF/01285/ 2015) and J. Silva-Correia (IF/00115/2015) under the Investigator FCT program are also greatly acknowledged.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

CMS physics technical design report : Addendum on high density QCD with heavy ions

Peer reviewe

Integrated optic devices based on nonlinear optical polymers

In the field of integrated optics, nonlinear optical polymeric materials are relative newcomers compared to LiNbO3 and III-V materials. In this paper, we will take a closer look at the state of the art of these polymers, in view of their potential advantages. We will show that these organic materials have many attractive features compared to LiNbO3 and III-V semiconductors with regard to their use in integrated optic circuits, especially since the level of integration is ever increasing. Considering more specifically electro-optic devices, we will describe some of the theoretical backgrounds and basic properties. These polymers have already demonstrated a very high and extremely fast electro-optic effect compared to LiNbO3. We will also show how low-loss waveguides can be fabricated by using easy techniques such as direct UV bleaching. The performance of phase modulators, Mach-Zehnder interferometers, and 2 x 2 space switches built with such polymers is already very promising. The results described in this paper indicate a rapid rate of progress made by this technology, and one can expect that polymers in general and NLO polymers in particular will play an increasingly important role in integrated optics

Guided wave modulators and switches fabricated in electrooptic polymers

In this paper the fabrication of directional couplers (2 x 2 switches) and Mach-Zehnder interferometers (intensity modulators) using electro-optic multilayer structures, is described. Results show attractively low switching voltages (< 10 V for 1.4 cm long devices) and very good on-off ratios (17 dB) for the directional couplers. In the case of the Mach-Zehnder interferometers, V-pi-values of 4.5 V have been obtained, also for 1.4 cm long devices

In vitro in vivo protein delivery from in situ forming poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(lactide) hydrogels

Previous studies have shown that stereocomplexed hydrogels are rapidly formed in situ by mixing aqueous solutions of eight-arm poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(L-lactide) and poly(ethylene glycol)–poly(D-lactide) star block copolymers (denoted as PEG–(PLLA)8 and PEG–(PDLA)8, respectively). In this study, in vitro and in vivo protein release from stereocomplexed hydrogels was investigated. These hydrogels were fully degradable under physiological conditions. Proteins could be easily loaded into the stereocomplexed hydrogels by mixing protein containing aqueous solutions of PEG–(PLLA)8 and PEG–(PDLA)8 copolymers. The release of the relatively small protein lysozyme (dh = 4.1 nm) followed first order kinetics and approximately 90% was released in 10 days. Bacteria lysis experiments showed that the released lysozyme had retained its activity. The relatively large protein IgG (dh = 10.7 nm) could be released from stereocomplexed hydrogels with nearly zero order kinetics, wherein up to 50% was released in 16 days. The in vitro release of the therapeutic protein rhIL-2 from stereocomplexed hydrogels also showed nearly zero order kinetics, wherein up to 45% was released in 7 days. The therapeutic efficacy of stereocomplexed hydrogels loaded with 1 × 106 IU of rhIL-2 was studied using SL2-lymphoma bearing DBA/2 mice. The PEG–(PLLA)8/PEG–(PDLA)8/rhIL-2 mixture could be easily injected intratumorally. The released rhIL-2 was therapeutically effective as the tumor size was reduced and the cure rate was 30%, whereas no therapeutic effect was achieved when no rhIL-2 was given. However, the cure rate of rhIL-2 loaded stereocomplexed hydrogels was lower, though not statistically significant, compared to that of a single injection with 1 × 106 IU of free rhIL-2 at the start of the therapy (cure rate = 70%). The therapeutic effect of rhIL-2 loaded stereocomplexed hydrogels was retarded for approximately 1–2 weeks compared to free rhIL-2, most likely due to a slow, constant release of rhIL-2 from the hydrogels