Novel scaffolds composed of poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) skeleton covered with bonelike apatite or apatite/collagen composite were produced via a combined phase-separation technique and an accelerated biomimetic coating process. Saos-2 osteoblast-like cells were used to evaluate the cellular behaviors on these biomimetic coatings. Cell morphologies on the surfaces of PLLA scaffolds, PLLA scaffold...

The amphiphilic graft copolymer using chitosan (CS) as hydrophilic segment and poly (L-lactic acid) (PLLA) as hydrophobic segment, was prepared through a protection-graft-de protection route. Chitosan is a polysaccharide comprising of copolymers of glucosamine and N-acetyl glucosamine. Chitosan is the deacetylated derivative of chitin, which is one of the most abundant natural polysaccharides c...

Growth factors like bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) play an important role in bone remodeling and fracture repair. Therefore, with respect to tissue engineering, an artificial graft should have no negative impact on the expression of these factors. In this context, the aim of this study was to analyze the impact of poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) na...

The sequential crystallization of poly(ethylene oxide)-b-poly(e-caprolactone)-b-poly(L-lactide) (PEO-b-PCL-b-PLLA) triblock terpolymers, in which the three blocks are able to crystallize separately and sequentially from the melt, is presented. Two terpolymers with identical PEO and PCL block lengths and two different PLLA block lengths were prepared, thus the effect of increasing PLLA content o...

Stem cell-based treatment of traumatic brain injury has been limited in its capacity to bring about complete functional recovery, because of the poor survival rate of the implanted stem cells. It is known that biocompatible biomaterials play a critical role in enhancing survival and proliferation of transplanted stem cells via provision of mechanical support. In this study, we noninvasively mon...

INTRODUCTION Injuries to peripheral nerves generate disconnection between spinal neurons and the target organ. Due to retraction of the nerve stumps, end-to-end neurorrhaphy is usually unfeasible. In such cases, autologous grafts are widely used, nonetheless with some disadvantages, such as mismatching of donor nerve dimensions and formation of painful neuromas at the donor area. Tubulization, ...

Stents are commonly used in medical procedures to alleviate the symptoms of coronary heart disease, a prevalent modern society disease. These structures are employed to maintain vessel patency and restore blood flow. Traditionally stents are made of metals such as stainless steel or cobalt chromium; however, these scaffolds have known disadvantages. An emergence of transient scaffolds is gainin...

INTRODUCTION Rotator cuff tears affect 40% of people upwards of the age of 60, which raises the importance of the orthopedic treatment. However, even with surgical apposition the poor innate healing properties of these tissues result with high re-tear rates [1]. 20%-70% of rotator cuff repairs fail within 6-12 weeks after the operation, where the failure commonly occurs at the suturetendon inte...

BACKGROUND The use of near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence imaging techniques has gained great interest for early detection of cancer owing to the negligible absorption and autofluorescence of water and other intrinsic biomolecules in this region. The main aim of the present study is to synthesize and characterize novel NIR fluorescent nanoparticles based on proteinoid and PLLA for early detection ...