Bone repair bionanocomposite scaffolds were produced by incorporating dense bioactive glass nanoparticles or mesoporous bioactive glass nanospheres into a chitosan-gelatin polymer blend. The in vitro bioactivity of the scaffolds was assessed in simulated body fluid, and cell viability and osteogenic differentiation assays were performed with dental pulp stem cells. Bone regeneration properties of the scaffold materials were in vivo assessed by using a critical-sized femoral defect model in rat. The scaffold nanocomposites showed excellent cytocompatibility and ability to accelerate the crystallization of bone-like apatite in vitro. Bionanocomposites prepared with bioactive glass nanoparticles were particularly more active to promote the osteogenic differentiation of dental pulp stem cells as judged by the higher activity of alkaline phosphatase. This result is attributed to the faster dissolution of bioactive glass nanoparticles into osteogenic ionic products compared to mesoporous bioactive glass nanospheres. In vivo experiments demonstrated that bioactive glass nanoparticles (5%)/chitosan-gelatin bionanocomposite significantly produces the highest amount of new bone (∼80%) in the defect area after eight weeks of implantation. The bone regeneration capacity exhibited by the scaffolds formulated with nanodimensional bioactive glass particles make them attractive for bone reconstruction applications.

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Periodontitis is an inflammatory disease, in which the host immuno‐inflammatory response against the dysbiotic subgingival biofilm leads to the breakdown of periodontal tissues. Most of the available treatments seem to be effective in the short‐term; nevertheless, permanent periodical controls and patient compliance compromise long‐term success. Different strategies have been proposed for the modulation of the host immune response as potential therapeutic tools to take a better care of most susceptible periodontitis patients, such as drug local delivery approaches. Though, maintaining an effective drug concentration for a prolonged period of time has not been achieved yet. In this context, advanced drug delivery strategies using biodegradable nanocarriers have been proposed to avoid toxicity and frequency‐related problems of treatment. The versatility of distinct nanocarriers allows the improvement of their loading and release capabilities and could be potentially used for microbiological control, periodontal regeneration, and/or immunomodulation. In the present review, we revise and discuss the most frequent biodegradable nanocarrier strategies proposed for the treatment of periodontitis, including polylactic‐co‐glycolic acid (PLGA), chitosan, and silica‐derived nanoparticles, and further suggest novel therapeutic strategies.

During axon targeting, a stereotyped pattern of connectivity is achieved by the integration of intrinsic genetic programs and the response to extrinsic long and short-range directional cues. How this coordination occurs is the subject of intense study. Transcription factors play a central role due to their ability to regulate the expression of multiple genes required to sense and respond to these cues during development. Here we show that the transcription factor HNT regulates layer-specific photoreceptor axon targeting in Drosophila through transcriptional control of jbug/Filamin and multiple genes involved in axon guidance and cytoskeleton organization.Using a microarray analysis we identified 235 genes whose expression levels were changed by HNT overexpression in the eye primordia. We analyzed nine candidate genes involved in cytoskeleton regulation and axon guidance, six of which displayed significantly altered gene expression levels in hnt mutant retinas. Functional analysis confirmed the role of OTK/PTK7 in photoreceptor axon targeting and uncovered Tiggrin, an integrin ligand, and Jbug/Filamin, a conserved actin- binding protein, as new factors that participate of photoreceptor axon targeting. Moreover, we provided in silico and molecular evidence that supports jbug/Filamin as a direct transcriptional target of HNT and that HNT acts partially through Jbug/Filamin in vivo to regulate axon guidance. Our work broadens the understanding of how HNT regulates the coordinated expression of a group of genes to achieve the correct connectivity pattern in the Drosophila visual system. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol 75: 1018-1032, 2015.

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