Wan Yan

The interaction of adipose-derived human mesenchymal stem cells and polyether ether ketone.

Polyether ether ketone (PEEK) as a high-performance, thermoplastic implant material entered the field of medical applications due to its structural function and commercial availability. In bone tissue engineering, the combination of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) with PEEK implants may accelerate the bone formation and promote the osseointegration between the implant and the adjacent bone tissue. In this concept the question how PEEK influences the behaviour and functions of MSCs is of great interest. Here the cellular response of human adipose-derived MSCs to PEEK was evaluated and compared to tissue culture plate (TCP) as the reference material. Viability and morphology of cells were not altered when cultured on the PEEK film. The cells on PEEK presented a high proliferation activity in spite of a relatively lower initial cell adhesion rate. There was no significant difference on cell apoptosis and senescence between the cells on PEEK and TCP. The inflammatory cytokines and VEGF secreted by the cells on these two surfaces were at similar levels. The cells on PEEK showed up-regulated BMP2 and down-regulated BMP4 and BMP6 gene expression, whereas no conspicuous differences were observed in the committed osteoblast markers (BGLAP, COL1A1 and Runx2). With osteoinduction the cells on PEEK and TCP exhibited a similar osteogenic differentiation potential. Our results demonstrate the biofunctionality of PEEK for human MSC cultivation and differentiation. Its clinical benefits in bone tissue engineering may be achieved by combining MSCs with PEEK implants. These data may also provide useful information for further modification of PEEK with chemical or physical methods to regulate the cellular processes of MSCs and to consequently improve the efficacy of MSC-PEEK based therapies.

Non-Continuously Responding Polymeric Actuators

Reversible movements of current polymeric actuators stem from the continuous response to signals from a controlling unit, and subsequently cannot be interrupted without stopping or eliminating the input trigger. Here, we present actuators based on cross-linked blends of two crystallizable polymers capable of pausing their movements in a defined manner upon continuous cyclic heating and cooling. This noncontinuous actuation can be adjusted by varying the applied heating and cooling rates. The feasibility of these devices for technological applications was shown in a 140 cycle experiment of free-standing noncontinuous shape shifts, as well as by various demonstrators.

Modeling of stress relaxation of a semi-crystalline multiblock copolymer and its deformation behavior

Stress relaxation can strongly influence the shape-memory capability of polymers. Recently a modified Maxwell-Wiechert model comprising two Maxwell units and a single spring unit in parallel has been introduced to successfully describe the shape recovery characteristics of amorphous polyether urethanes. In this work we explored whether such a modified Maxwell-Wiechert model is capable to describe the stress relaxation behavior of a semi-crystalline multiblock copolymer named PCL-PIBMD, which consists of crystallizable poly(ɛ-caprolactone) (PCL) segments and crystallizable poly(3S-isobutylmorpholine-2,5-dione) (PIBMD) segments. The stress relaxation behavior of PCL-PIBMD was explored after uniaxial deformation to different strains ranging from 50 to 900% with various strain rates of 1 or 10 or 50 mm·min -1. The modeling results indicated that under the assumption that in PCL-PIBMD both PCL and PIBMD blocks have narrow molecular weight distributions and are arranged in sequence, the two relaxation processes can be related to the amorphous PCL and PIBMD domains and the spring element can be associated to the PIBMD crystalline domains. The first Maxwell unit representing the faster relaxation process characterized by the modulus E1 and the relaxation time τ1 is related to the amorphous PCL domains (which are in the rubbery state), while the second Maxwell unit (E2 ; τ2) represents the behavior of the amorphous PIBMD domains, which are in the glassy state at 50 °C. Increasing strain rates resulted in an increase of E1 and a significant reduction in τ1, whereas the elastic modulus as well as the relaxation time related to the amorphous PIBMD domains remained almost constant. When a higher deformation was applied (ɛ ≥ 200% ) lower values for the elastic moduli of the three model elements were obtained. In general the applied model was also capable to describe the relaxation behavior of PCL-PIBMD at a deformation temperature of 20 °C, where additional crystalline PCL domains are existent. The presented approach using a modified Maxwell-Wiechert model to analyze the stress relaxation behavior can be useful to understand the changes in structure-function relation of amorphous as well as semi-crystalline polymers occurring during its uniaxial deformation.