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    Increased pore size of scaffolds improves coating efficiency with sulfated hyaluronan and mineralization capacity of osteoblasts
    (London : Biomed Central, 2019) Krieghoff, Jan; Picke, Ann-Kristin; Salbach-Hirsch, Juliane; Rother, Sandra; Heinemann, Christiane; Bernhardt, Ricardo; Kascholke, Christian; Möller, Stephanie; Rauner, Martina; Schnabelrauch, Matthias; Hintze, Vera; Scharnweber, Dieter; Schulz-Siegmund, Michaela; Hacker, Michael C.; Hofbauer, Lorenz C.; Hofbauer, Christine
    Background: Delayed bone regeneration of fractures in osteoporosis patients or of critical-size bone defects after tumor resection are a major medical and socio-economic challenge. Therefore, the development of more effective and osteoinductive biomaterials is crucial. Methods: We examined the osteogenic potential of macroporous scaffolds with varying pore sizes after biofunctionalization with a collagen/high-sulfated hyaluronan (sHA3) coating in vitro. The three-dimensional scaffolds were made up from a biodegradable three-armed lactic acid-based macromer (TriLA) by cross-polymerization. Templating with solid lipid particles that melt during fabrication generates a continuous pore network. Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSC) cultivated on the functionalized scaffolds in vitro were investigated for cell viability, production of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and bone matrix formation. Statistical analysis was performed using student's t-test or two-way ANOVA. Results: We succeeded in generating scaffolds that feature a significantly higher average pore size and a broader distribution of individual pore sizes (HiPo) by modifying composition and relative amount of lipid particles, macromer concentration and temperature for cross-polymerization during scaffold fabrication. Overall porosity was retained, while the scaffolds showed a 25% decrease in compressive modulus compared to the initial TriLA scaffolds with a lower pore size (LoPo). These HiPo scaffolds were more readily coated as shown by higher amounts of immobilized collagen (+ 44%) and sHA3 (+ 25%) compared to LoPo scaffolds. In vitro, culture of hMSCs on collagen and/or sHA3-coated HiPo scaffolds demonstrated unaltered cell viability. Furthermore, the production of ALP, an early marker of osteogenesis (+ 3-fold), and formation of new bone matrix (+ 2.5-fold) was enhanced by the functionalization with sHA3 of both scaffold types. Nevertheless, effects were more pronounced on HiPo scaffolds about 112%. Conclusion: In summary, we showed that the improvement of scaffold pore sizes enhanced the coating efficiency with collagen and sHA3, which had a significant positive effect on bone formation markers, underlining the promise of using this material approach for in vivo studies. © 2019 The Author(s).
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    Optimizing Variable-Axial Fiber-Reinforced Composite Laminates: The Direct Fiber Path Optimization Concept
    (London [u.a.] : Taylor & Francis, 2019) Bittrich, Lars; Spickenheuer, Axel; Almeida Jr., José Humberto S.; Müller, Sascha; Kroll, Lothar; Heinrich, Gert
    The concept of aligning reinforcing fibers in arbitrary directions offers a new perception of exploiting the anisotropic characteristic of the carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites. Complementary to the design concept of multiaxial composites, a laminate reinforced with curvilinear fibers is called variable-axial (also known as variable stiffness and variable angle tow). The Tailored Fiber Placement (TFP) technology is well capable of manufacturing textile preforming with a variable-axial fiber design by using adapted embroidery machines. This work introduces a novel concept for simulation and optimization of curvilinear fiber-reinforced composites, where the novelty relies on the local optimization of both fiber angle and intrinsic thickness build-up concomitantly. This framework is called Direct Fiber Path Optimization (DFPO). Besides the description of DFPO, its capabilities are exemplified by optimizing a CFRP open-hole tensile specimen. Key results show a clear improvement compared to the current often used approach of applying principal stress trajectories for a variable-axial reinforcement pattern. © 2019 Lars Bittrich et al.