Jianhao Zhao

Preparation and properties of biomimetic porous nanofibrous poly(l-lactide) scaffold with chitosan nanofiber network by a dual thermally induced phase separation technique

A biomimetic nanofibrous poly(L-lactide) scaffold decorated by chitosan nanofiber network inside the macropores was fabricated using a dual thermally induced phase separation technique. The first phase separation was used to build a nanofibrous poly(L-lactide) scaffold with interconnected macropores, where chitosan nanofibers about 500nm in diameter were incorporated via the second phase separation. The content of nanofibrous chitosan was determined to be 5.76 in weight percentage by elemental analysis. The composite scaffold showed the highest protein adsorption of 7225±116 μg/cm(3) and the most hydroxyapatite crystal deposition in the mineralization. Compared with non-nanofibrous poly(L-lactide) scaffold, nanofibrous poly(L-lactide) scaffold exhibited a much faster degradation, but it could be restrained by the introduced chitosan nanofibers. The bone mesenchymal stem cell culture results indicated that the cells would rather attach and stretch along the chitosan nanofibers in the composite scaffold that showed the highest viability and the best cytocompatibility may be attributed to the biomimetic nanofibrous network and good cell affinity of chitosan nanofibers.

In vitro drug release and biological evaluation of biomimetic polymeric micelles self-assembled from amphiphilic deoxycholic acid-phosphorylcholine-chitosan conjugate.

Novel biomimetic amphiphilic chitosan derivative, deoxycholic acid-phosphorylcholine-chitosan conjugate (DCA-PCCs) was synthesized based on the combination of Atherton-Todd reaction for coupling phosphorylcholine (PC) and carbodiimide coupling reaction for linking deoxycholic acid (DCA) to chitosan. The chemical structure of DCA-PCCs was characterized by (1)H and (31)P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The self-assembly of DCA-PCCs in water was analyzed by fluorescence measurements, dynamic laser light-scattering (DLS), zeta potential and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) technologies. The results confirmed that the amphiphilic DCA-PCCs can self-assemble to form nanosized spherical micelles with biomimetic PC shell. In vitro biological evaluation revealed that DCA-PCCs micelles had low toxicity against NIH/3T3 mouse embryonic fibroblasts as well as good hemocompatibility. Using quercetin as a hydrophobic model drug, drug loading and release study suggested that biomimetic DCA-PCCs micelles could be used as a promising nanocarrier avoiding unfavorable biological response for hydrophobic drug delivery applications.

Superior hybrid hydrogels of polyacrylamide enhanced by bacterial cellulose nanofiber clusters.

Hybrid polyacrylamide/bacterial cellulose nanofiber clusters (PAM/BC) hydrogels with high strength, toughness and recoverability were synthesized by in situ polymerization of acrylamide monomer in BC nanofiber clusters suspension. The hybrid gels exhibited an extremely large elongation at break of 2200%, and a high fracture stress of 1.35MPa. Additionally, the original length of hydrogels could be recovered after releasing the tensile force. Compressive results showed that the PAM/BC hybrid gels could reach a strain of about 99% without break, and was able to completely recover its original shape immediately after releasing the compression force. The compressive stress at 99% reached as high as 30MPa. Nearly no hysteresis in cyclic compressive tests was observed with these hybrid gels. The FT-IR, XRD and TGA analysis showed that hydrogen bonds between the PAM chains and BC nanofiber clusters mainly contributed to the superior mechanical properties of hybrid hydrogels. The cell viability results suggested that PAM/BC hybrid hydrogel was benign for biomedical application. These PAM/BC hydrogels offer a great promise as biomaterials such as bone and cartilage repair materials.

Preparation, characterization and cytocompatibility of polyurethane/cellulose based liquid crystal composite membranes

Two types of polyurethane/liquid crystal (PU/LC) composite membranes with different LC contents, namely polyurethane/octyl hydroxypropyl cellulose ester (PU/OPC) and polyurethane/propyl hydroxypropyl cellulose ester (PU/PPC), were prepared and studied. The effects of surface properties on cell compatibility of the membranes were elucidated. PPC tended to assemble to independent phases in the composite membranes, while OPC formed uniformly distributed LC domains. As the introduction of LC, phase separation occurred, and the crystallization of PU was disrupted. The surface of PU/LC composite membranes showed fingerprint texture and two-phase morphology. Hydrophilicity of the two types of composite membranes exhibited a reversal tendency with the increase of LC contents. Cells seeded on the composite membranes presented favorable growth when the content of LC was over 30%, especially on PU/OPC complex. The surface morphology, phase separation between LC and PU as well as the type of LC showed significant effects on the cell behaviors.

Improving the cell affinity of a poly(D,L-lactide) film modified by grafting collagen via a plasma technique

Poly(D,L-lactide) films were surface-modified by grafting collagen via NH(3) plasma to improve cell affinity. The modified films were characterized by IR analysis, contact angle measurement, SEM analysis and collagen quantity determination. It was demonstrated that -NH(2) and collagen were incorporated into the surface of PDLLA films. The hydrophilicity of the PDLLA film increased after NH(3) plasma treatment, but decreased with further collagen modification. More collagen was incorporated into the PDLLA films by a grating method as compared to that with an anchorage treatment. L929 fibroblast cells were used to evaluate the cell affinity of the modified films and control. It was shown that PDLLA films surface-modified by grafting collagen via NH(3) plasma more efficiently enhanced the cells attachment and proliferation than those films modified by collagen anchorage or only NH(3) plasma treatment.

Hyaluronan microgel as a potential carrier for protein sustained delivery by tailoring the crosslink network

Hyaluronan (HA) microgels with different crosslink network, i.e. HGPs-1, HGPs-1.5, HGPs-3, HGPs-6 and HGPs-15, were synthesized using divinyl sulfone (DVS) as the crosslinker in an inverse microemulsion system for controlling the sustained delivery of bovine serum albumin (BSA). With increasing the crosslinker content, the average particle size slightly increased from 1.9 ± 0.3 μm to 3.6 ± 0.5 μm by dynamic laser scattering analysis. However, the crosslinker content had no significant effect on the morphology of HA microgels by scanning and transmission electron microscopes. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and elemental analysis proved more sulfur participated in the crosslink reaction when raising the crosslinker amount. The water swelling test confirmed the increasing crosslink density with the crosslinker content by calculating the average molecular weight between two crosslink points to be 8.25 ± 2.51 × 10(5), 1.26 ± 0.43 × 10(5), 0.96 ± 0.09 × 10(5), 0.64 ± 0.03 × 10(5), and 0.11 ± 0.01 × 10(5) respectively. The degradation of HA microgels by hyaluronidase slowed down by enhancing the crosslink density, only about 5% of HGPs-15 was degraded as opposed to over 90% for HGPs-1. BSA loading had no obvious influence on the surface morphology of HA microgels but seemed to induce their aggregation. The increase of crosslink density decreased the BSA loading capacity but facilitated its long-term sustained delivery. When the molar ratio of DVS to repeating unit of HA reached 3 or higher, similar delivery profiles were obtained. Among all these HA microgels, HGPs-3 was the optimal carrier for BSA sustained delivery in this system because it possessed both high BSA loading capacity and long-term delivery profile simultaneously.

Preparation, characterization and protein sorption of photo-crosslinked cell membrane-mimicking chitosan-based hydrogels.

Photocrosslinkable biomimetic chitosan derivative, glycidyl methacrylate-phosphorylcholine-chitosan (PCCs-GMA) was synthesized through the combination of Atherton-Todd reaction for coupling phosphorylcholine and ring opening reaction of epoxides for attaching GMA, and confirmed by (1)H and (31)P NMR and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The photo-crosslinking reaction of PCCs-GMA with different degree of substitution (DS) of GMA allowed the formation of biomimetic hydrogels with tunable mechanical and swelling properties. Cold crystallization behaviors ascribed to their restrained freezing bound water were investigated using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The rheological and swelling behaviors, hemolysis as well as protein sorption of PCCs-GMA hydrogels were investigated in terms of the DS of GMA, using fibrinogen, bovine serum albumin and lysozyme as model proteins. Low irreversible protein sorption and non hemolytic results indicated that photo-crosslinked PCCs-GMA hydrogels may offer a promising candidate material with resistance to protein fouling in biomedical applications.

Structure, morphology and cell affinity of poly(l-lactide) films surface-functionalized with chitosan nanofibers via a solid–liquid phase separation technique

Poly(L-lactide) films with a nano-structured surface by immobilizing chitosan nanofibers (CSNFs) for improving the cell affinity were fabricated via a solid-liquid phase separation technique. The successful grafting of CSNFs on the surface of poly(L-lactide) films was confirmed by the binding energy of N1s at 398.0 eV in the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and the amide I and II bands of chitosan at 1650 and 1568 cm(-1) in the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Compared with the poly(L-lactide) film, the hydrophilicity was improved with a lower water contact angle of 83.3±1.9° and 75.3±2.5° for the CSNFs-grafted and CSNFs-grafted/anchored poly(L-lactide) films respectively. The scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy analyses showed that the grafted CSNFs with 50-500 nm in diameter were randomly arranged on the film surface and entangled with the anchored CSNFs on the outermost layer. The 3T3 fibroblasts culture indicated cells tended to attach and stretch along the CSNFs on the film surface. The cell viability measurement revealed that among all the samples, the film with both grafted and anchored CSNFs exhibited the highest cell proliferation rate that was twice as much of the poly(L-lactide) film at 7 d. Herein, engineering a nano-structured surface by solid-liquid phase separation will be a promising tool for surface modification of biomaterials.

Self-assemblied nanocomplexes based on biomimetic amphiphilic chitosan derivatives for protein delivery

A bio-inspired nanocarrier was developed for protein delivery based on biodegradable amphiphilic chitosan derivative (DCA-PCCs) with hydrophilic cell membrane mimic phosphorylcholine (PC) and hydrophobic deoxycholic acid (DCA) moieties, which was synthesized via the combination of Atherton-Todd reaction and carbodiimide coupling reaction. Using bovine serum albumin (BSA) as model protein, it was found that DCA-PCCs with suitable degree of substitution of PC and DCA moieties can load proteins by forming nanocomplexes via a solvent evaporation method. The physicochemical characteristics of BSA/DCA-PCCs nanocomplexes were investigated by Zetasizer, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. In vitro biological evaluation revealed BSA/DCA-PCCs nanocomplexes as blank DCA-PCCs nanoparticles had excellent cytocompatibility and hemocompatibility mainly due to the presence of cell membrane mimic phosphorylcholine. BSA release results suggested BSA/DCA-PCCs nanocomplexes showed a sustained release behavior following first order exponential decay kinetics. The results indicated DCA-PCCs provided a promising approach for effectively delivering therapeutic proteins.

Self-reinforcement and protein sustained delivery of hyaluronan hydrogel by tailoring a dually cross-linked network

A series of self-reinforcing hyaluronan hydrogels were developed to improve mechanical properties and protein sustained delivery thanks to a dually cross-linked network. Hyaluronan gel particles (HGPs, 1-5 μm in diameter) with different cross-linking densities, i.e. HGPs-1.5, HGPs-3 and HGPs-15, were prepared in an inverse emulsion system and used as the reinforcing phase after glycidyl methacrylation, while glycidyl methacrylated hyaluronan with a substitution degree of 45.2% was synthesized as the matrix phase. These two phases were cross-linked under ultraviolet irradiation to form self-reinforcing hyaluronan hydrogels (srHAs) that showed typical cross-linked structure of HGPs connecting the matrix phase by cross-section observation. In comparison to hyaluronan bulk gels and their blends with HGPs, srHAs distinctly enhanced the mechanical properties and BSA long-term sustained delivery, especially srHA-1.5 showed the highest compressive modulus of 220±15 kPa and the slowest BSA delivery (67% release at 14 d). The 3T3 fibroblast cell culture showed that all the srHAs had no cytotoxicity.