No abstract

Biodegradable poly(lactic acid) (PLA) is widely used to fabricate 3D scaffolds for tissue regeneration. However, PLA lacks cell adhering functional moieties, which limit its successful application in tissue engineering. Herein, we have tailored the cell adhesive properties of star shaped poly(d,l-lactide) (ss-PDLLA) by grafting gelatin to their 4 arms. Grafting of gelatin on PDLLA backbone was confirmed by H NMR and FTIR. The synthesized star shaped poly(d,l-lactide)-b-gelatin (ss-pLG) exhibited enhanced wettability and protein adsorption. The modification also facilitated better cell adhesion and proliferation on their respective polymer coated 2D substrates, compared to their respective unmodified ss-PDLLA. Further, 3D scaffolds were fabricated from gelatin grafted and unmodified polymers. The fabricated scaffolds were shown to be cytocompatible to 3T3-L1 cells and hemocompatible to red blood cells (RBCs). Cell proliferation was increased up to 2.5-fold in ss-pLG scaffolds compared to ss-PDLLA scaffolds. Furthermore, a significant increase in cell number reveals a high degree of infiltration of cells into the scaffolds, forming a viable and healthy 3D interconnected cell community. In addition to that, burst release of docetaxal (DTX) was observed from ss-pLG scaffolds. Hence, this new system of grafting polymers followed by fabricating 3D scaffolds could be utilized as a successful approach in a variety of applications where cell-containing depots are used.

Abstract:Biomaterial science provides a platform for the development of bio-artificial implants. Growth or development of engineered tissues for the purpose of repairing, restoring and enhancing the function of a damaged tissue or organ needs designed biomaterials. The most studied tissue engineering strategy consists on using cells growth factors and temporary three-dimensional (3D) porous scaffolds. 3D scaffolds play a very important role in the success of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. They provide structural support for cells to proliferate and maintain their differentiated phenotype and permit the convenient delivery of cells into the patients. Several features of scaffold can influence the cell growth and its functions. The artificial extracellular matrices can be produced from different biomaterials including ceramics, natural or synthetic polymers and composites. Recent discoveries and innovations in this emerging field adopt varieties of techniques ranging from biotechnology to material science and nanotechnology. The result is a huge amount of data. To maintain and keep updated, this would not be an easy task. New advances in computers and information technology help to create and organize the databases quite easy. Their contents can easily be accessed, managed and updated. A WWW interface benefits the users to search the different types of data based on the types of biomaterials, their abundance, structure and applications. This provides the scope and archive of information on this emerging field of biomaterials to the global scientific community. The database is freely accessible through http://dbbiomat.iitkgp.ernet.in.