Medical Biotechnology Commons^™

Submicron Bioactive Glass Tubes For Bone Tissue Engineering, Jingwei Xie, Eric Blough, Chi-Hwa Wang

MIIR Faculty Research

Herein we describe a method to fabricate submicron bioactive glass tubes using of sol-gel and co-axial electrospinning techniques for applications in bone tissue engineering. Heavy mineral oil and gel solution were delivered by two independent syringe pumps during the co-axial electrospinning process. Subsequently, submicron bioactive glass tubes were obtained by removal of poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) and heavy mineral oil via calcination at 600 °C for 5 h. Tubular structure was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging. We examined the bioactivity of submicron bioactive glass tubes and fibers and evaluated their biocompatibility taking electrospun poly(ε-caprolactone) …

Intratracheal Instillation Of Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles Induces Hepatic Toxicity In Male Sprague-Dawley Rats, Siva Krishna Nalabotu, Madhukar Babu Kolli, William E. Triest, Jane Y. Ma, Nandini Dpk Manne, Anjaiah Katta, Hari S. Addagarla, Kevin M. Rice, Eric R. Blough

MIIR Faculty Research

Background: Cerium oxide (CeO₂) nanoparticles have been posited to have both beneficial and toxic effects on biological systems. Herein, we examine if a single intratracheal instillation of CeO₂ nanoparticles is associated with systemic toxicity in male Sprague-Dawley rats.

Methods and results: Compared with control animals, CeO₂ nanoparticle exposure was associated with increased liver ceria levels, elevations in serum alanine transaminase levels, reduced albumin levels, a diminished sodium-potassium ratio, and decreased serum triglyceride levels (P < 0.05). Consistent with these data, rats exposed to CeO₂nanoparticles also exhibited reductions in liver weight (P < 0.05) and dose-dependent hydropic degeneration, hepatocyte enlargement, sinusoidal dilatation, and accumulation of granular material. No histopathological alterations were observed in the kidney, spleen, and heart. Analysis of serum biomarkers suggested an elevation of acute phase reactants and markers of hepatocyte injury in the rats exposed to CeO₂ nanoparticles.

Conclusion: Taken together, these data suggest that intratracheal instillation …

Application Of Poly(Amidoamine) Dendrimers For Use In Bionanomotor Systems, Madhukar Babu Kolli, B. Scott Day, Hideyo Takatsuki, Siva Krishna Nalabotu, Kevin M. Rice, Kazuhiro Kohama, Murali K. Gadde, Anjaiah Katta, Eric R. Blough

MIIR Faculty Research

The study and utilization of bionanomotors represents a rapid and progressing field of nanobiotechnology. Here, we demonstrate that poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimers are capable of supporting heavy meromyosin dependent actin motility of similar quality to that observed using nitrocellulose, and that microcontact printing of PAMAM dendrimers can be exploited to produce tracks of active myosin motors leading to the restricted motion of actin filaments across a patterned surface. These data suggest that the use of dendrimer surfaces will increase the applicability of using protein biomolecular motors for nanotechnological applications.