Immobilization of growth factors to polymeric matrices has been a common strategy in the design of tissue engineering scaffolds to promote tissue regeneration, which requires complex cell signaling events with the surrounding matrix. However, the use of large protein growth factors in polymeric scaffolds is often plagued by immunogenicity, short in vivo half-lives, and reduced bioactivity. To a...

Silicone rubber is a frequently used biomaterial in biomedical devices and implants, yet highly prone to microbial adhesion and the development of a biomaterial-centered infection. Effective coating of silicone rubber to discourage microbial adhesion has thus far been impossible due to the hydrophobic character of its surface, surface deterioration upon treatment and instability of coatings und...

The treatment of bone loss due to different etiologic factors is difficult and many techniques aim to improve the repair, including a wide range of biomaterials and recently, photobioengineering. This work aimed to assess by histological analysis the repair of bone defects grafted with biphasic synthetic micro-granular HA + β-TCP associated with LED phototherapy. Forty rats were divided into 4 ...

Recently a novel crosslinkable and biodegradable copolymer poly(propylene fumarateco-caprolactone) (PPF-co-PCL) has been synthesized in our lab (Figure 1). By varying copolymer composition, controllable physical properties can be achieved to satisfy various needs in tissue engineering, particularly, bone and nerve regenerations. The physical properties of the copolymers have been extensively in...

The complement system is an important inflammatory mediator during procedures such as cardiopulmonary bypass and hemodialysis when blood is exposed to large areas of biomaterial surface. This contact between blood and the biomaterials of implants and extracorporeal circuits leads to an inflammatory response mediated by the complement system. The aim of this study was to assess the ability of a ...

A bone defect resulting from open bone trauma may easily become infected; however, the administration of efficacious systemic antibiotics cannot be performed at safe levels. Previous studies have investigated anti-infective biomaterials that incorporate into bone and facilitate the direct application of high-concentration local antibiotics. In the present study, the effect of a novel porous com...

Enhancement of the surface properties of a material by means of laser radiation has been amply demonstrated previously. In this work a comparative study for the surface modification of nylon 6,6 has been conducted in order to vary the wettability characteristics using CO2 and excimer lasers. This was done by producing 50mm spaced (with depths between 1 and 10mm) trench-like patterns using vario...

Nowadays, despite significant advances in the field of biomaterials for tissue engineering applications, novel bone substituents still need refinement so they can be successfully implemented into medical treatment fractures. Generally, a scaffold made synthetic polymer blended with nanofillers was proven to very promising biomaterial engineering, however choice components said remains questiona...

In a liquid-liquid interface bioreactor, fungal cells locate in a hydrophilic polyacrylonitrile microsphere layer on an aqueous-organic interface. In this article, effects of hydrophobicity of the interface on n-decane hydroxylation activity of Monilliera sp. NAP 00702 was examined. (-)-4-Decanol production was significantly enhanced to 132% by addition of polytetrafluoroethylene.