Gellan gum as a natural polysaccharide has good heat resistance, acid resistance and enzymes resistance. However, one of the drawbacks of gellan gum might be the lower mechanical strength. In this work, gellan gum scaffolds were mixed with poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) microsphere in order to improve mechanical properties. The gellan gum scaffolds with various contents of PLGA microsphere were prepared for the regeneration of disc tissues. To evaluate the mechanical strength of hybrid structure of gellan gum and PLGA microsphere, compression strength of the fabricated scaffolds was measured. MTT analysis, SEM observation, histological evaluation and RT-PCR were performed to confirm the effect on the cell growth and extracellular matrix secretion. As a result, it showed the best cell proliferation and extracellular matrix secretion in gellan gum sponge containing 50% PLGA microspheres. In conclusion, this study confirmed that the hybrid structure of gellan gum and PLGA microspheres was found suitable in regeneration of the intervertebral disc.

No abstract

In this study, both mild acid and alkali treatmentswith 1.0 wt% and 2.0 wt% of H2SO4 and NaOH solution were applied to evaluatethe effects on chemical compositions of wood biomass. Yellow poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera L.) and larch (Larix kaempferi C.) were chosen due to major species planted in Korea. Chemical treatments of biomass were carried out by being soaked in either acid or alkali solution with 1:20 ratio for 72 hours at ambient temperature. Afterward, lignin, 5 major reduced sugars, ash contents and elemental composition were determined. To statistically understand the relationshipbetween samples and chemical treatments, the Tukey test, simple linear regression model and ANOVA analysis wereintroduced using a statistical software R. As results from both wet chemistry and statistical analysis, yellow poplar was more affected on the lignin and xylose contents by acid treatments under these experimental conditions. Meanwhile, larch was more affected on the composition of galactose and lignin by alkali treatments. A series of results in this study would show that equivalent chemical treatment makes a change the chemical composition of each species.

No abstract

No abstract