Browsing by Author "Boccaccini, Aldo R."

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    3D Printing of Piezoelectric Barium Titanate-Hydroxyapatite Scaffolds with Interconnected Porosity for Bone Tissue Engineering
    (Basel : MDPI, 2020) Polley, Christian; Distler, Thomas; Detsch, Rainer; Lund, Henrik; Springer, Armin; Boccaccini, Aldo R.; Seitz, Hermann
    The prevalence of large bone defects is still a major problem in surgical clinics. It is, thus, not a surprise that bone-related research, especially in the field of bone tissue engineering, is a major issue in medical research. Researchers worldwide are searching for the missing link in engineering bone graft materials that mimic bones, and foster osteogenesis and bone remodeling. One approach is the combination of additive manufacturing technology with smart and additionally electrically active biomaterials. In this study, we performed a three-dimensional (3D) printing process to fabricate piezoelectric, porous barium titanate (BaTiO3) and hydroxyapatite (HA) composite scaffolds. The printed scaffolds indicate good cytocompatibility and cell attachment as well as bone mimicking piezoelectric properties with a piezoelectric constant of 3 pC/N. This work represents a promising first approach to creating an implant material with improved bone regenerating potential, in combination with an interconnected porous network and a microporosity, known to enhance bone growth and vascularization.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    4D Biofabrication of fibrous artificial nerve graft for neuron regeneration
    (Bristol : IOP Publ., 2020) Apsite, Indra; Constante, Gissela; Dulle, Martin; Vogt, Lena; Caspari, Anja; Boccaccini, Aldo R.; Synytska, Alla; Salehi, Sahar; Ionov, Leonid
    In this paper, we describe the application of the 4D biofabrication approach for the fabrication of artificial nerve graft. Bilayer scaffolds consisting of uniaxially aligned polycaprolactone-poly(glycerol sebacate) (PCL-PGS) and randomly aligned methacrylated hyaluronic acid (HA-MA) fibers were fabricated using electrospinning and further used for the culture of PC-12 neuron cells. Tubular structures form instantly after immersion of fibrous bilayer in an aqueous buffer and the diameter of obtained tubes can be controlled by changing bilayer parameters such as the thickness of each layer, overall bilayer thickness, and medium counterion concentration. Designed scaffolds showed a self-folded scroll-like structure with high stability after four weeks of real-time degradation. The significance of this research is in the fabrication of tuneable tubular nerve guide conduits that can simplify the current existing clinical treatment of neural injuries. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Different storage conditions influence biocompatibility and physicochemical properties of iron oxide nanoparticles
    (Basel : Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI), 2015) Zaloga, Jan; Janko, Christina; Agarwal, Rohit; Nowak, Johannes; Müller, Robert; Boccaccini, Aldo R.; Lee, Geoffrey; Odenbach, Stefan; Lyer, Stefan; Alexiou, Christoph
    Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) have attracted increasing attention in many biomedical fields. In magnetic drug targeting SPIONs are injected into a tumour supplying artery and accumulated inside the tumour with a magnet. The effectiveness of this therapy is thus dependent on magnetic properties, stability and biocompatibility of the particles. A good knowledge of the effect of storage conditions on those parameters is of utmost importance for the translation of the therapy concept into the clinic and for reproducibility in preclinical studies. Here, core shell SPIONs with a hybrid coating consisting of lauric acid and albumin were stored at different temperatures from 4 to 45 °C over twelve weeks and periodically tested for their physicochemical properties over time. Surprisingly, even at the highest storage temperature we did not observe denaturation of the protein or colloidal instability. However, the saturation magnetisation decreased by maximally 28.8% with clear correlation to time and storage temperature. Furthermore, the biocompatibility was clearly affected, as cellular uptake of the SPIONs into human T-lymphoma cells was crucially dependent on the storage conditions. Taken together, the results show that the particle properties undergo significant changes over time depending on the way they are stored.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Electrically Conductive and 3D-Printable Oxidized Alginate-Gelatin Polypyrrole: PSS Hydrogels for Tissue Engineering
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2021) Distler, Thomas; Polley, Christian; Shi, Fukun; Schneidereit, Dominik; Ashton, Mark D.; Friedrich, Oliver; Kolb, Jürgen F.; Hardy, John G.; Detsch, Rainer; Seitz, Hermann; Boccaccini, Aldo R.
    Electroactive hydrogels can be used to influence cell response and maturation by electrical stimulation. However, hydrogel formulations which are 3D printable, electroactive, cytocompatible, and allow cell adhesion, remain a challenge in the design of such stimuli-responsive biomaterials for tissue engineering. Here, a combination of pyrrole with a high gelatin-content oxidized alginate-gelatin (ADA-GEL) hydrogel is reported, offering 3D-printability of hydrogel precursors to prepare cytocompatible and electrically conductive hydrogel scaffolds. By oxidation of pyrrole, electroactive polypyrrole:polystyrenesulfonate (PPy:PSS) is synthesized inside the ADA-GEL matrix. The hydrogels are assessed regarding their electrical/mechanical properties, 3D-printability, and cytocompatibility. It is possible to prepare open-porous scaffolds via bioplotting which are electrically conductive and have a higher cell seeding efficiency in scaffold depth in comparison to flat 2D hydrogels, which is confirmed via multiphoton fluorescence microscopy. The formation of an interpenetrating polypyrrole matrix in the hydrogel matrix increases the conductivity and stiffness of the hydrogels, maintaining the capacity of the gels to promote cell adhesion and proliferation. The results demonstrate that a 3D-printable ADA-GEL can be rendered conductive (ADA-GEL-PPy:PSS), and that such hydrogel formulations have promise for cell therapies, in vitro cell culture, and electrical-stimulation assisted tissue engineering. © 2021 The Authors. Advanced Healthcare Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH