Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 13
  • Item
    Poly(2-alkyl-2-oxazoline)-Heparin Hydrogels—Expanding the Physicochemical Parameter Space of Biohybrid Materials
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2021) Hahn, Dominik; Sonntag, Jannick M.; Lück, Steffen; Maitz, Manfred F.; Freudenberg, Uwe; Jordan, Rainer; Werner, Carsten
    Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-glycosaminoglycan (GAG) hydrogel networks are established as very versatile biomaterials. Herein, the synthetic gel component of the biohybrid materials is systematically varied by combining different poly(2-alkyl-2-oxazolines) (POx) with heparin applying a Michael-type addition crosslinking scheme: POx of gradated hydrophilicity and temperature-responsiveness provides polymer networks of distinctly different stiffness and swelling. Adjusting the mechanical properties and the GAG concentration of the gels to similar values allows for modulating the release of GAG-binding growth factors (VEGF165 and PDGF-BB) by the choice of the POx and its temperature-dependent conformation. Adsorption of fibronectin, growth of fibroblasts, and bacterial adhesion scale with the hydrophobicity of the gel-incorporated POx. In vitro hemocompatibility tests with freshly drawn human whole blood show advantages of POx-based gels compared to the PEG-based reference materials. Biohybrid POx hydrogels can therefore enable biomedical technologies requiring GAG-based materials with customized and switchable physicochemical characteristics. © 2021 The Authors. Advanced Healthcare Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.
  • Item
    The Biomedical Use of Silk: Past, Present, Future
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2019) Holland, Chris; Numata, Keiji; Rnjak-Kovacina, Jelena; Seib, F. Philipp
    Humans have long appreciated silk for its lustrous appeal and remarkable physical properties, yet as the mysteries of silk are unraveled, it becomes clear that this outstanding biopolymer is more than a high-tech fiber. This progress report provides a critical but detailed insight into the biomedical use of silk. This journey begins with a historical perspective of silk and its uses, including the long-standing desire to reverse engineer silk. Selected silk structure–function relationships are then examined to appreciate past and current silk challenges. From this, biocompatibility and biodegradation are reviewed with a specific focus of silk performance in humans. The current clinical uses of silk (e.g., sutures, surgical meshes, and fabrics) are discussed, as well as clinical trials (e.g., wound healing, tissue engineering) and emerging biomedical applications of silk across selected formats, such as silk solution, films, scaffolds, electrospun materials, hydrogels, and particles. The journey finishes with a look at the roadmap of next-generation recombinant silks, especially the development pipeline of this new industry for clinical use. © 2018 The Authors. Published by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
  • Item
    Ultrathin 2D Titanium Carbide MXene (Ti3C2Tx) Nanoflakes Activate WNT/HIF-1α-Mediated Metabolism Reprogramming for Periodontal Regeneration
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2021) Cui, Di; Kong, Na; Ding, Liang; Guo, Yachong; Yang, Wenrong; Yan, Fuhua
    Periodontal defect regeneration in severe periodontitis relies on the differentiation and proliferation of periodontal ligament cells (PDLCs). Recently, an emerging 2D nanomaterial, MXene (Ti3C2Tx), has gained more and more attention due to the extensive antibacterial and anticancer activity, while its potential biomedical application on tissue regeneration remains unclear. Through a combination of experimental and multiscale simulation schemes, Ti3C2Tx has exhibited satisfactory biocompatibility and induced distinguish osteogenic differentiation of human PDLCs (hPDLCs), with upregulated osteogenesis-related genes. Ti3C2Tx manages to activate the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway by enhancing the Wnt-Frizzled complex binding, thus stabilizing HIF-1α and altering metabolic reprogramming into glycolysis. In vivo, hPDLCs pretreated by Ti3C2Tx display excellent performance in new bone formation and osteoclast inhibition with enhanced RUNX2, HIF-1α, and β-catenin in an experimental rat model of periodontal fenestration defects, indicating that this material has high efficiency of periodontal regeneration promotion. It is demonstrated in this work that Ti3C2Tx has highly efficient therapeutic effects in osteogenic differentiation and periodontal defect repairment. © 2021 The Authors. Advanced Healthcare Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH
  • Item
    Metabolic Reprogramming of Macrophages Exposed to Silk, Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid), and Silica Nanoparticles
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2017) Saborano, Raquel; Wongpinyochit, Thidarat; Totten, John D.; Johnston, Blair F.; Seib, F. Philipp; Duarte, Iola F.
    Monitoring macrophage metabolism in response to nanoparticle exposure provides new insights into biological outcomes, such as inflammation or toxicity, and supports the design of tailored nanomedicines. This paper describes the metabolic signature of macrophages exposed to nanoparticles ranging in diameter from 100 to 125 nm and made from silk, poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) or silica. Nanoparticles of this size and type are currently at various stages of preclinical and clinical development for drug delivery applications. 1H NMR analysis of cell extracts and culture media is used to quantify the changes in the intracellular and extracellular metabolomes of macrophages in response to nanoparticle exposure. Increased glycolytic activity, an altered tricarboxylic acid cycle, and reduced ATP generation are consistent with a proinflammatory phenotype. Furthermore, amino acids possibly arising from autophagy, the creatine kinase/phosphocreatine system, and a few osmolytes and antioxidants emerge as important players in the metabolic reprogramming of macrophages exposed to nanoparticles. This metabolic signature is a common response to all nanoparticles tested; however, the direction and magnitude of some variations are clearly nanoparticle specific, indicating material-induced biological specificity. Overall, metabolic reprogramming of macrophages can be achieved with nanoparticle treatments, modulated through the choice of the material, and monitored using 1H NMR metabolomics.
  • Item
    Naturally drug-loaded chitin: Isolation and applications
    (Basel : MDPI, 2019) Kovalchuk, Valentine; Voronkina, Alona; Binnewerg, Björn; Schubert, Mario; Muzychka, Liubov; Wysokowski, Marcin; Tsurkan, Mikhail V.; Bechmann, Nicole; Petrenko, Iaroslav; Fursov, Andriy; Martinovic, Rajko; Ivanenko, Viatcheslav N.; Fromont, Jane; Smolii, Oleg B.; Joseph, Yvonne; Giovine, Marco; Erpenbeck, Dirk; Gelinsky, Michael; Springer, Armin; Guan, Kaomei; Bornstein, Stefan R.; Ehrlich, Hermann
    Naturally occurring three-dimensional (3D) biopolymer-based matrices that can be used in different biomedical applications are sustainable alternatives to various artificial 3D materials. For this purpose, chitin-based structures from marine sponges are very promising substitutes. Marine sponges from the order Verongiida (class Demospongiae) are typical examples of demosponges with well-developed chitinous skeletons. In particular, species belonging to the family Ianthellidae possess chitinous, flat, fan-like fibrous skeletons with a unique, microporous 3D architecture that makes them particularly interesting for applications. In this work, we focus our attention on the demosponge Ianthella flabelliformis (Linnaeus, 1759) for simultaneous extraction of both naturally occurring (“ready-to-use”) chitin scaffolds, and biologically active bromotyrosines which are recognized as potential antibiotic, antitumor, and marine antifouling substances. We show that selected bromotyrosines are located within pigmental cells which, however, are localized within chitinous skeletal fibers of I. flabelliformis. A two-step reaction provides two products: treatment with methanol extracts the bromotyrosine compounds bastadin 25 and araplysillin-I N20 sulfamate, and a subsequent treatment with acetic acid and sodium hydroxide exposes the 3D chitinous scaffold. This scaffold is a mesh-like structure, which retains its capillary network, and its use as a potential drug delivery biomaterial was examined for the first time. The results demonstrate that sponge-derived chitin scaffolds, impregnated with decamethoxine, effectively inhibit growth of the human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus in an agar diffusion assay
  • Item
    Electrochemical approach for isolation of chitin from the skeleton of the black coral cirrhipathes sp. (Antipatharia)
    (Basel : MDPI, 2020) Nowacki, Krzysztof; Stępniak, Izabela; Langer, Enrico; Tsurkan, Mikhail; Wysokowski, Marcin; Petrenko, Iaroslav; Khrunyk, Yuliya; Fursov, Andriy; Bo, Marzia; Bavestrello, Giorgio; Joseph, Yvonne; Ehrlich, Hermann
    The development of novel and effective methods for the isolation of chitin, which remains one of the fundamental aminopolysaccharides within skeletal structures of diverse marine invertebrates, is still relevant. In contrast to numerous studies on chitin extraction from crustaceans, mollusks and sponges, there are only a few reports concerning its isolation from corals, and especially black corals (Antipatharia). In this work, we report the stepwise isolation and identification of chitin from Cirrhipathes sp. (Antipatharia, Antipathidae) for the first time. The proposed method, aiming at the extraction of the chitinous scaffold from the skeleton of black coral species, combined a well-known chemical treatment with in situ electrolysis, using a concentrated Na2SO4 aqueous solution as the electrolyte. This novel method allows the isolation of a-chitin in the form of a microporous membrane-like material. Moreover, the extracted chitinous scaffold, with a well-preserved, unique pore distribution, has been extracted in an astoundingly short time (12 h) compared to the earlier reported attempts at chitin isolation from Antipatharia corals. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
  • Item
    A Complementary and Revised View on the N-Acylation of Chitosan with Hexanoyl Chloride
    (Basel : MDPI, 2021) Reis, Berthold; Gerlach, Niklas; Steinbach, Christine; Haro Carrasco, Karina; Oelmann, Marina; Schwarz, Simona; Müller, Martin; Schwarz, Dana
    The modification of the biobased polymer chitosan is a broad and widely studied field. Herein, an insight into the hydrophobization of low-molecular-weight chitosan by substitution of amino functionalities with hexanoyl chloride is reported. Thereby, the influence of the pH of the reaction media was investigated. Further, methods for the determination of the degree of substitution based on 1H-NMR, FTIR, and potentiometric titration were compared and discussed regarding their accuracy and precision. 1H-NMR was the most accurate method, while FTIR and the potentiometric titration, though precise and reproducible, underlie the influence of complete protonation and solubility issues. Additionally, the impact of the pH variation during the synthesis on the properties of the samples was investigated by Cd2+ sorption experiments. The adjusted pH values during the synthesis and, therefore, the obtained degrees of substitution possessed a strong impact on the adsorption properties of the final material.
  • Item
    First Report on Chitin in a Non-Verongiid Marine Demosponge: The Mycale euplectellioides Case
    (Basel : MDPI, 2018) Żółtowska-Aksamitowska, Sonia; Shaala, Lamiaa A.; Youssef, Diaa T.A.; Elhady, Sameh S.; Tsurkan, Mikhail V.; Petrenko, Iaroslav; Wysokowski, Marcin; Tabachnick, Konstantin; Meissner, Heike; Ivanenko, Viatcheslav N.; Bechmann, Nicole; Joseph, Yvonne; Jesionowski, Teofil; Ehrlich, Hermann
    Sponges (Porifera) are recognized as aquatic multicellular organisms which developed an effective biochemical pathway over millions of years of evolution to produce both biologically active secondary metabolites and biopolymer-based skeletal structures. Among marine demosponges, only representatives of the Verongiida order are known to synthetize biologically active substances as well as skeletons made of structural polysaccharide chitin. The unique three-dimensional (3D) architecture of such chitinous skeletons opens the widow for their recent applications as adsorbents, as well as scaffolds for tissue engineering and biomimetics. This study has the ambitious goal of monitoring other orders beyond Verongiida demosponges and finding alternative sources of naturally prestructured chitinous scaffolds; especially in those demosponge species which can be cultivated at large scales using marine farming conditions. Special attention has been paid to the demosponge Mycale euplectellioides (Heteroscleromorpha: Poecilosclerida: Mycalidae) collected in the Red Sea. For the first time, we present here a detailed study of the isolation of chitin from the skeleton of this sponge, as well as its identification using diverse bioanalytical tools. Calcofluor white staining, Fourier-transform Infrared Spcetcroscopy (FTIR), electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and fluorescence microscopy, as well as a chitinase digestion assay were applied in order to confirm with strong evidence the finding of a-chitin in the skeleton of M. euplectellioides. We suggest that the discovery of chitin within representatives of the Mycale genus is a promising step in their evaluation of these globally distributed sponges as new renewable sources for both biologically active metabolites and chitin, which are of prospective use for pharmacology and biomaterials oriented biomedicine, respectively.
  • Item
    New Source of 3D Chitin Scaffolds: The Red Sea Demosponge Pseudoceratina arabica (Pseudoceratinidae, Verongiida)
    (Basel : MDPI, 2019) Shaala, Lamiaa A.; Asfour, Hani Z.; Youssef, Diaa T.A.; Żółtowska-Aksamitowska, Sonia; Wysokowski, Marcin; Tsurkan, Mikhail; Galli, Roberta; Meissner, Heike; Petrenko, Iaroslav; Tabachnick, Konstantin; Ivanenko, Viatcheslav N.; Bechmann, Nicole; Muzychka, Lyubov V.; Smolii, Oleg B.; Martinović, Rajko; Joseph, Yvonne; Jesionowski, Teofil; Ehrlich, Hermann
    The bioactive bromotyrosine-derived alkaloids and unique morphologically-defined fibrous skeleton of chitin origin have been found recently in marine demosponges of the order Verongiida. The sophisticated three-dimensional (3D) structure of skeletal chitinous scaffolds supported their use in biomedicine, tissue engineering as well as in diverse modern technologies. The goal of this study was the screening of new species of the order Verongiida to find another renewable source of naturally prefabricated 3D chitinous scaffolds. Special attention was paid to demosponge species, which could be farmed on large scale using marine aquaculture methods. In this study, the demosponge Pseudoceratina arabica collected in the coastal waters of the Egyptian Red Sea was examined as a potential source of chitin for the first time. Various bioanalytical tools including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), fluorescence microscopy, FTIR analysis, Calcofluor white staining, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), as well as a chitinase digestion assay were successfully used to confirm the discovery of a-chitin within the skeleton of P. arabica. The current finding should make an important contribution to the field of application of this verongiid sponge as a novel renewable source of biologically-active metabolites and chitin, which are important for development of the blue biotechnology especially in marine oriented biomedicine. © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
  • Item
    Express method for isolation of ready-to-use 3D chitin scaffolds from aplysina archeri (aplysineidae: verongiida) demosponge
    (Basel : MDPI, 2019) Klinger, Christine; Zółtowska-Aksamitowska, Sonia; Wysokowski, Marcin; Tsurkan, Mikhail V.; Galli, Roberta; Petrenko, Iaroslav; Machałowski, Tomasz; Ereskovsky, Alexander; Martinović, Rajko; Muzychka, Lyubov; Smolii, Oleg B.; Bechmann, Nicole; Ivanenko, Viatcheslav; Schupp, Peter J.; Jesionowski, Teofil; Giovine, Marco; Bornstein, Stefan R.; Voronkina, Alona; Ehrlich, Hermann
    Sponges are a valuable source of natural compounds and biomaterials for many biotechnological applications. Marine sponges belonging to the order Verongiida are known to contain both chitin and biologically active bromotyrosines. Aplysina archeri (Aplysineidae: Verongiida) is well known to contain bromotyrosines with relevant bioactivity against human and animal diseases. The aim of this study was to develop an express method for the production of naturally prefabricated 3D chitin and bromotyrosine-containing extracts simultaneously. This new method is based on microwave irradiation (MWI) together with stepwise treatment using 1% sodium hydroxide, 20% acetic acid, and 30% hydrogen peroxide. This approach, which takes up to 1 h, made it possible to isolate chitin from the tube-like skeleton of A. archeri and to demonstrate the presence of this biopolymer in this sponge for the first time. Additionally, this procedure does not deacetylate chitin to chitosan and enables the recovery of ready-to-use 3D chitin scaffolds without destruction of the unique tube-like fibrous interconnected structure of the isolated biomaterial. Furthermore, these mechanically stressed fibers still have the capacity for saturation with water, methylene blue dye, crude oil, and blood, which is necessary for the application of such renewable 3D chitinous centimeter-sized scaffolds in diverse technological and biomedical fields. © 2019 by the authors.