0000000000148229
AUTHOR
Arianna Adamo
Thermostabilization of BSA in TMAO Water Mixtures by Infrared Spectroscopy
Background:Trimethylamine-N-Oxide (TMAO) is a small organic molecule derived from the metabolism of L-carnitine and choline after ingestion of animal food. TMAO has many functions such as electron acceptor, an osmolyte, stabilizer of macromolecules folding. It seems that TMAO plays an important role in nature but, in humans, it is a remnant of the evolution of the osmolyte system.Objective:The present paper is addressed on the study of thermal stability of hydrated Bovine Serum Albumins (BSA) in the presence of water and TMAO water solution by means of InfraRed spectroscopy. In particular, this work has investigated the protein amide I spectral regions, which is sensitive to protein seconda…
Continuous Microfiber Wire Mandrel‐Less Biofabrication for Soft Tissue Engineering Applications
Suture materials are the most common bioimplants in surgical and clinical practice, playing a crucial role in wound healing and tendon and ligament repair. Despite the assortment available on the market, sutures are still affected by significant disadvantages, including failure in mimicking the mechanical properties of the tissue, excessive fibrosis, and inflammation. This study introduces a mandrel-less electrodeposition apparatus to fabricate continuous microfiber wires of indefinite length. The mandrel-less biofabrication produces wires, potentially used as medical fibers, with different microfiber bundles, that imitate the hierarchical organization of native tissues, and tailored mechan…
A biostable, anti-fouling zwitterionic polyurethane-urea based on PDMS for use in blood-contacting medical devices.
Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is commonly used in medical devices because it is non-toxic and stable against oxidative stress. Relatively high blood platelet adhesion and the need for chemical crosslinking through curing, however, limit its utility. In this research, a biostable PDMS-based polyurethane-urea bearing zwitterion sulfobetaine (PDMS-SB-UU) was synthesized for potential use in the fabrication or coating of blood-contacting devices, such as a conduits, artificial lungs, and microfluidic devices. The chemical structure and physical properties of synthesized PDMS-SB-UU were confirmed by (1)H-nuclear magnetic resonance ((1)H-NMR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and uniaxial stress-strain cur…
Mandrel-less fabrication of biomimetic electrospun microfiber wires for tissue engineering applications
This study introduces a novel mandrel-less electrodeposition method and a novel electrode prototypes useful for tissue engineering applications. More specifically, in this study a novel fabrication protocol to electrospun fibers-based chords, with length spanning from 2 cm to virtually no limitations on longitudinal length, is presented. For the first part of this study, Poly(ester urethane) urea (PEUU) was used to fabricate, by electrodeposition technique, continuous microfiber wires with controlled micro-architecture and tunable mechanics. A novel apparatus to process degradable or non-degradable polymers was used. Soft tissue injuries are common in daily clinical and surgical practice. O…