Emulsion-based systems that combine natural polymers with vegetable oils have been identified as ... more Emulsion-based systems that combine natural polymers with vegetable oils have been identified as a promising research avenue for developing structures with potential for biomedical applications. Herein, chitosan (CHT), a natural polymer, and virgin coconut oil (VCO), a resource obtained from coconut kernels, were combined to create an emulsion system. Phytantriol-based cubosomes encapsulating sodium diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory drug, were further dispersed into CHT/VCO- based emulsion. Then, the emulsions were frozen and freeze-dried to produce scaffolds. The scaffolds had a porous structure ranging from 20.4 to 73.4 µm, a high swelling ability (up to 900%) in PBS, and adequate stiffness, notably in the presence of cubosomes. Moreover, a well-sustained release of the entrapped diclofenac in the cubosomes into the CHT/VCO-based system, with an accumulated release of 45 ± 2%, was confirmed in PBS, compared to free diclofenac dispersed (80 ± 4%) into CHT/VCO-based structures. Overa...
Abstract Biopolymers from renewable resources are often used in multiple fields, namely health, f... more Abstract Biopolymers from renewable resources are often used in multiple fields, namely health, food, energy, and the environment, due to their intrinsic features, versatility, biocompatibility, and degradability. Besides, the widespread use of biopolymers also addresses concerns about environmental sustainability. Biopolymers derived from many sources, e.g., marine, plant, animals, have been used alone or combined to process membranes for multiple applications. Therefore this chapter addresses the fundamental features in terms of the intrinsic characteristics, main properties, and applications of biopolymers as membranes. Moreover, the market trend is also discussed.
The combination of marine origin biopolymers for tissue engineering (TE) applications is of high ... more The combination of marine origin biopolymers for tissue engineering (TE) applications is of high interest, due to their similarities with the proteins and polysaccharides present in the extracellular matrix of different human tissues. This manuscript reports on innovative collagen-chitosan-fucoidan cryogels formed by the simultaneous blending of these three marine polymers in a chemical-free crosslinking approach. The physicochemical characterization of marine biopolymers comprised FTIR, amino acid analysis, circular dichroism and SDS-PAGE, and suggested that the jellyfish collagen used in the cryogels was not denatured (preserved the triple helical structure) and had similarities with type II collagen. The chitosan presented a high deacetylation degree (90.1%) that can strongly influence the polymer physicochemical properties and biomaterial formation. By its turn, rheology, and SEM studies confirmed that these novel cryogels present interesting properties for TE purposes, such as ...
This study proposes a green and innovative ionic liquid (IL) methodology for processing sucrose a... more This study proposes a green and innovative ionic liquid (IL) methodology for processing sucrose acetate isobutyrate (SAIB) porous structures for tissue engineering. The solubilization of SAIB in an IL, namely, 1-butyl-imidazolium acetate, was achieved, for the first time, allowing the development of SAIB-based scaffolds. In the early stages of the process development, it was needed to add chitin in the scaffold’s compositions to provide a steady structure. Physicochemical, mechanical, and biological techniques evaluated the characteristics of the produced scaffolds. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy results confirmed the presence of chitin and SAIB, as well as the influence of the applied solvent for the IL removal. The X-ray diffraction analysis shows that the presence of SAIB contributes to a decrease in the crystallinity of the scaffolds. Moreover, the morphology of the structures varied upon the preparation conditions used, demonstrating that it is possible to obtain scaffolds with different values of porosity (ranging from 52 to 85%). No cytotoxicity was found when culturing in vitro human adipose-derived stem cells onto the surface of the produced scaffolds during 72 h. This study showed that processing SAIB-based scaffolds is feasible using ILs and that these structures exhibit promising features for tissue engineering scaffolding applications.
Photocrosslinking on acemannan is proposed as a green approach for the production of high added-v... more Photocrosslinking on acemannan is proposed as a green approach for the production of high added-value acemannan structures, enabling its biomedical exploitation.
Emulsion-based systems that combine natural polymers with vegetable oils have been identified as ... more Emulsion-based systems that combine natural polymers with vegetable oils have been identified as a promising research avenue for developing structures with potential for biomedical applications. Herein, chitosan (CHT), a natural polymer, and virgin coconut oil (VCO), a resource obtained from coconut kernels, were combined to create an emulsion system. Phytantriol-based cubosomes encapsulating sodium diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory drug, were further dispersed into CHT/VCO- based emulsion. Then, the emulsions were frozen and freeze-dried to produce scaffolds. The scaffolds had a porous structure ranging from 20.4 to 73.4 µm, a high swelling ability (up to 900%) in PBS, and adequate stiffness, notably in the presence of cubosomes. Moreover, a well-sustained release of the entrapped diclofenac in the cubosomes into the CHT/VCO-based system, with an accumulated release of 45 ± 2%, was confirmed in PBS, compared to free diclofenac dispersed (80 ± 4%) into CHT/VCO-based structures. Overa...
Abstract Biopolymers from renewable resources are often used in multiple fields, namely health, f... more Abstract Biopolymers from renewable resources are often used in multiple fields, namely health, food, energy, and the environment, due to their intrinsic features, versatility, biocompatibility, and degradability. Besides, the widespread use of biopolymers also addresses concerns about environmental sustainability. Biopolymers derived from many sources, e.g., marine, plant, animals, have been used alone or combined to process membranes for multiple applications. Therefore this chapter addresses the fundamental features in terms of the intrinsic characteristics, main properties, and applications of biopolymers as membranes. Moreover, the market trend is also discussed.
The combination of marine origin biopolymers for tissue engineering (TE) applications is of high ... more The combination of marine origin biopolymers for tissue engineering (TE) applications is of high interest, due to their similarities with the proteins and polysaccharides present in the extracellular matrix of different human tissues. This manuscript reports on innovative collagen-chitosan-fucoidan cryogels formed by the simultaneous blending of these three marine polymers in a chemical-free crosslinking approach. The physicochemical characterization of marine biopolymers comprised FTIR, amino acid analysis, circular dichroism and SDS-PAGE, and suggested that the jellyfish collagen used in the cryogels was not denatured (preserved the triple helical structure) and had similarities with type II collagen. The chitosan presented a high deacetylation degree (90.1%) that can strongly influence the polymer physicochemical properties and biomaterial formation. By its turn, rheology, and SEM studies confirmed that these novel cryogels present interesting properties for TE purposes, such as ...
This study proposes a green and innovative ionic liquid (IL) methodology for processing sucrose a... more This study proposes a green and innovative ionic liquid (IL) methodology for processing sucrose acetate isobutyrate (SAIB) porous structures for tissue engineering. The solubilization of SAIB in an IL, namely, 1-butyl-imidazolium acetate, was achieved, for the first time, allowing the development of SAIB-based scaffolds. In the early stages of the process development, it was needed to add chitin in the scaffold’s compositions to provide a steady structure. Physicochemical, mechanical, and biological techniques evaluated the characteristics of the produced scaffolds. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy results confirmed the presence of chitin and SAIB, as well as the influence of the applied solvent for the IL removal. The X-ray diffraction analysis shows that the presence of SAIB contributes to a decrease in the crystallinity of the scaffolds. Moreover, the morphology of the structures varied upon the preparation conditions used, demonstrating that it is possible to obtain scaffolds with different values of porosity (ranging from 52 to 85%). No cytotoxicity was found when culturing in vitro human adipose-derived stem cells onto the surface of the produced scaffolds during 72 h. This study showed that processing SAIB-based scaffolds is feasible using ILs and that these structures exhibit promising features for tissue engineering scaffolding applications.
Photocrosslinking on acemannan is proposed as a green approach for the production of high added-v... more Photocrosslinking on acemannan is proposed as a green approach for the production of high added-value acemannan structures, enabling its biomedical exploitation.
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