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Current Trends in Using Macromolecule-Based Biomaterials for Biomedical Applications
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Current Trends in Using Macromolecule-Based Biomaterials for Biomedical Applications

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Macromolecules".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2023) | Viewed by 3129

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Jyh-Ping Chen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 33302, Taiwan
Interests: drug delivery; tissue engineering; nanobiotechnology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Natural and synthetic macromolecules are currently widely used in many biomedical applications, such as scaffolding materials in tissue engineering and as carriers for drug delivery. The combination of different natural macromolecules, such as chitosan, alginate, gelatin, silk fibroin, alginate, and components of the extracellular matrix, represents a traditional approach to enhance cell proliferation and differentiation. On the other hand, by incorporating both natural and synthetic macromolecules, the immunomodulatory capabilities of the biological components could be harnessed while taking advantage of the tunable mechanical properties of the synthetic components in hybrid biomaterials. Composite biomaterials fabricated from these macromolecules and inorganic materials represents another novel approach to improve the clinical outcomes, for instance incorporating graphene-family nanomaterials for cancer therapy, and hydroxyapatite for bone tissue engineering. Indeed, these composite biomaterials offer many advantages that are not possible before, by implementing considerable control over material properties to expand versatility and increase efficacy, which may include the needs for strong but lightweight materials, as well as for high resilient but compliant biomaterials.

This Special Issue will present current trends in using natural or synthetic macromolecules with or without blending with inorganic components for biomedical applications, especially in tissue engineering and drug delivery.

Prof. Dr. Jyh-Ping Chen
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • natural macromolecules
  • synthetic macromolecules
  • hybrid biomaterials
  • composite biomaterials
  • tissue engineering
  • drug delivery

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

26 pages, 5998 KiB  
Article
Development of Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Membranes Based on Functionalized and Crosslinked Chitosan for Tissue Regeneration
by Clarissa Ciarlantini, Elisabetta Lacolla, Iolanda Francolini, Marta Fernández-García, Carolina Muñoz-Núñez, Alexandra Muñoz-Bonilla and Antonella Piozzi
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2024, 25(4), 1961; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25041961 - 06 Feb 2024
Viewed by 618
Abstract
Tissue engineering is an interdisciplinary field that develops new methods to enhance the regeneration of damaged tissues, including those of wounds. Polymer systems containing bioactive molecules can play an important role in accelerating tissue regeneration, mitigating inflammation process, and fighting bacterial infection. Chitosan [...] Read more.
Tissue engineering is an interdisciplinary field that develops new methods to enhance the regeneration of damaged tissues, including those of wounds. Polymer systems containing bioactive molecules can play an important role in accelerating tissue regeneration, mitigating inflammation process, and fighting bacterial infection. Chitosan (CS) has attracted much attention regarding its use in wound healing system fabrication thanks to its biocompatibility, biodegradability, and the presence of functional groups in its structure. In this work, bioactive chitosan-based membranes were obtained by both chemical and physical modifications of the polymer with glycidyl methacrylate and glycerol (GLY), respectively. The most suitable GLY concentration to obtain wound healing systems with good elongation at break, a good water vapor transmission rate (WVTR), and good wettability values was 20% (w/w). Afterwards, the membranes were crosslinked with different concentrations of ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA). By using a concentration of 0.05 mM EGDMA, membranes with a contact angle and WVTR values suitable for the application were obtained. To make the system bioactive, 3,4-dihydrocinnamic acid (HCAF) was introduced into the membranes, either by imbibition or chemical reaction, using laccase as a catalyst. Thermal and mechanical analyses confirmed the formation of a cohesive network, which limited the plasticizing effect of GLY, particularly when HCAF was chemically bound. The HCAF-imbibed membrane showed a good antioxidant and antimicrobial activity, highlighting the potential of this system for the treatment of wound healing. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Trends in Using Macromolecule-Based Biomaterials for Biomedical Applications)
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18 pages, 5015 KiB  
Article
Polycaprolactone/Chitosan Composite Nanofiber Membrane as a Preferred Scaffold for the Culture of Mesothelial Cells and the Repair of Damaged Mesothelium
by Hao-Hsi Kao, Chang-Yi Kuo, Darshan Tagadur Govindaraju, Kuo-Su Chen and Jyh-Ping Chen
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(17), 9517; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23179517 - 23 Aug 2022
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2076
Abstract
Mesothelial cells are specific epithelial cells lining the serosal cavity and internal organs. Nonetheless, few studies have explored the possibility to culture mesothelial cells in a nanostructure scaffold for tissue engineering applications. Therefore, this study aims to fabricate nanofibers from a polycaprolactone (PCL) [...] Read more.
Mesothelial cells are specific epithelial cells lining the serosal cavity and internal organs. Nonetheless, few studies have explored the possibility to culture mesothelial cells in a nanostructure scaffold for tissue engineering applications. Therefore, this study aims to fabricate nanofibers from a polycaprolactone (PCL) and PCL/chitosan (CS) blend by electrospinning, and to elucidate the effect of CS on the cellular response of mesothelial cells. The results demonstrate that a PCL and PCL/CS nanofiber membrane scaffold could be prepared with a comparable fiber diameter (~300 nm) and porosity for cell culture. Blending CS with PCL influenced the mechanical properties of the scaffold due to interference of PCL crystallinity in the nanofibers. However, CS substantially improves scaffold hydrophilicity and results in a ~6-times-higher cell attachment rate in PCL/CS. The mesothelial cells maintain high viability in both nanofiber membranes, but PCL/CS provides better maintenance of cobblestone-like mesothelial morphology. From gene expression analysis and immunofluorescence staining, the incorporation of CS also results in the upregulated expression of mesothelial marker genes and the enhanced production of key mesothelial maker proteins, endorsing PCL/CS to better maintain the mesothelial phenotype. The PCL/CS scaffold was therefore chosen for the in vivo studies, which involved transplanting a cell/scaffold construct containing allograft mesothelial cells for mesothelium reconstruction in rats. In the absence of mesothelial cells, the mesothelium wound covered with PCL/CS showed an inflammatory response. In contrast, a mesothelium layer similar to native mesothelium tissue could be obtained by implanting the cell/scaffold construct, based on hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and immunohistochemical staining. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Trends in Using Macromolecule-Based Biomaterials for Biomedical Applications)
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