Izrada i karakterizacija IPN alginatnih i želatinskih mikrogelova s tramadolom: Optimiranje pomoću metode odzivnih površina

Tramadol-loaded interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) alginate-gelatin (AG) microgels (MG) were prepared by the chemical cross-linking technique with glutaraldehyde as cross-linking agent and were optimized using response surfaces. A central composite design for 2 factors, at 3 levels each, was employed to evaluate the effect of critical formulation variables, namely the amount of gelatin (X1) and glutaraldehyde (X2) on geometric mean diameter, encapsulation efficiency, diffusion coefficient (D), amount of mucin adsorbed per unit mass (Qe) and 50 % drug release time (t50). Microgels with average particle size in the range of 44.31102.41 m were obtained. Drug encapsulation up to 86.5 % was achieved. MGs were characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy to assess formation of the IPN structure and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was performed to understand the nature of drug dispersion after encapsulation into IPN microgels. Both equilibrium and dynamic swelling studies were performed in pH 7.4 phosphate buffer. Diffusion coefficients and exponents for water transport were determined using an empirical equation. The mucoadhesive properties of MGs were evaluated in aqueous solution by measuring the mucin adsorbed on MGs. Adsorption isotherms were constructed and fitted with Freundlich and Langmuir equations. In vitro release studies indicated the dependence of drug release on the extent of crosslinking and amount of gelatin used in preparing IPNs. The release rates were fitted to power law equation and Higuchi’s model to compute the various drug transport parameters, n value ranged from 0.4055 to 0.5754, suggesting that release may vary from Fickian to quasi-Fickian depending upon variation in the formulation composition.Interpenetrirajući umreženi polimerni (IPN) alginatno-želatinski (AG) mikrogelovi (MG) tramadola pripravljeni su metodom umrežavanja koristeći glutaraldehid kao sredstvo za umrežavanje. Pripravci su optimirani pomoću odzivnih površina. Kompozitini dizajn s dva faktora na tri nivoa upotrijebljen je za procjenu kritičnih formulacijskih varijabli: praćen je utjecaj količine želatine (X1) i glutaraldehida (X2) na prosječnu veličinu čestica, sposobnost kapsuliranja, koeficijent difuzije (D), količinu adsorbiranog mucina po jedinici mase (Qe) i vrijeme potrebno za oslobađanje 50 % lijeka (t50). Dobiveni su mikrogelovi prosječne veličine čestica od 44,31 do 102,41 m, a maksimalno postignuto vezanje lijeka bilo je 86,5 %. Mikrogelovi su karakterizirani FT-IR spektroskopijom i diferencijalnom pretražnom kalorimetrijom (DSC). Ravnotežne i dinamičke studije bubrenja provedene su u fosfatnom puferu pH 7,4. Koeficijenti difuzije i eksponenti za transport vode određeni su pomoću empirijske jednadžbe. Mukoadhezivna svojstva MGs evaluirana su u vodenoj otopini mjerenjem adsorpcije mucina na mikrogelove. Konstruirane su adsorpcijske izoterme i uspoređene s Freudlichovim i Langmuirovim jednadžbama. Pokusi in vitro pokazuju da oslobađanje ljekovite tvari ovisi o stupnju umreženja i količini želatine upotrijebljene u pripravi IPN. Vrijednosti oslobađanja uvrštene su u jednadžbu zakona potencije i u Higuchijev model kako bi se izračunali razni parametri prijenosa lijeka; n vrijednosti bile su između 0,4055 i 0,5754, što ukazuje na to da oslobađanje varira od Fickovog do kvazi-Fickovog, ovisno o sastavu pripravka

Design of materials to capture and enrich bacterial samples

Background: Diseases arising from pathogenic infections cause immense loss of life and illnesses globally besides having severe negative social and economic impact. Current methods of diagnosing such infections rely mostly on culture-based assays which are complex, time consuming and expensive. Other related problems include low detection limits of diagnostic methods, thus requiring methods to concentrate and enrich the samples being analysed. Objectives: It is imperative that novel diagnostic methods which are simple, accurate, quick and costeffective are developed. An approach to develop such a diagnostic platform is by including an enrichment step to concentrate the microorganisms present in the biological samples and then the detection of specific pathogens. Methods: To capture and concentrate bacteria from samples, collagen nanoparticles were synthesised and then incubated with those samples. Collagen binds to bacteria leading to enrichment upon elution. In addition, magnetic particles were added to the collagen nanoparticles in order to facilitate the recovery of the nanoparticles from the samples. After enrichment of a given sample a specific detection method utilizing voltammetric biosensors was used. Electrodes to be used can also be functionalised to specifically capture bacteria and avoid the adhesion of unspecific molecules to the electrode which could affect the accuracy of the readout. Results: Bacteria bind to the collagen-magnetic nanoparticles and these nanoparticles can be recovered using a magnetic field. Polypropylene - which is the substrate being used for the electrodes construction was functionalised by physical treatments including plasma, UV and ozone to ultimately produce an antiadhesive surface.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Atmospheric plasma and UV polymerisation for developing sustainable anti-adhesive polyethylene terephthalate (PET) surfaces

Enhancing the hydrophilicity of polymeric materials is an important step for achieving anti-adhesiveness. Thus, in this study, atmospheric plasma as a pre-treatment was combined with a UV grafting process to obtain a durable surface modification on polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The most promising conditions for the atmospheric plasma process were found to be 15 kW power and 4 m/min speed, leading to a contact angle reduction from 70 ± 6° to approximately 30°. However, it was observed that these values increased over time due to the ageing and washing of the PET surface, ultimately causing it to recover its initial contact angle. Therefore, the plasma-pre-treated PET samples were further modified through a UV grafting process using sodium acrylate (NaAc) and 3-sulfopropyl acrylate potassium salts (KAc). The grafted acrylate PET samples exhibited contact angles of 8 ± 3° and 28 ± 13° for NaAc and KAc, respectively, while showing durability in ageing and washing tests. The dry film thicknesses for both samples were found to be 28 ± 2 μm. Finally, the anti-adhesive properties of the NaAc- and KAc-treated surfaces were evaluated using an Escherichia coli expressing YadA, an adhesive protein from Yersinia. The modified PET surfaces were highly effective in reducing bacterial adhesion by more than 90%.This work was supported by the ViBrANT project, which received funding from the EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Marie Sklowdowska-Curie (grant agreement no. 765042), and the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) (grant number UIDB/04469/2020).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Can superhydrophobic PET surfaces prevent bacterial adhesion?

Prevention of bacterial adhesion is a way to reduce and/or avoid biofilm formation, thus restraining its associated infections. The development of repellent anti-adhesive surfaces, such as superhydrophobic surfaces, can be a strategy to avoid bacterial adhesion. In this study, a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film was modified by in situ growth of silica nanoparticles (NPs) to create a rough surface. The surface was further modified with fluorinated carbon chains to increase its hydrophobicity. The modified PET surfaces presented a pronounced superhydrophobic character, showing a water contact angle of 156° and a roughness of 104 nm (a considerable increase comparing with the 69° and 4.8 nm obtained for the untreated PET). Scanning Electron Microscopy was used to evaluate the modified surfaces morphology, further confirming its successful modification with nanoparticles. Additionally, a bacterial adhesion assay using an Escherichia coli expressing YadA, an adhesive protein from Yersinia so-called Yersinia adhesin A, was used to assess the anti-adhesive potential of the modified PET. Contrarily to what was expected, adhesion of E. coli YadA was found to increase on the modified PET surfaces, exhibiting a clear preference for the crevices. This study highlights the role of material micro topography as an important attribute when considering bacterial adhesion.This work was supported by the ViBrANT project that received funding from the EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the Marie Sklowdowska-Curie, Grant agreement no 765042 and the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UIDB/04469/2020.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Modification of PET surfaces with Gum Arabic towards its bacterial anti-adhesiveness using an experimental factorial design approach

Bacterial adhesion onto hospital material surfaces still represents a big healthcare issue, being preventive measures required to mitigate this problem, such as increasing material surface hydrophilicity. In the present study, gum Arabic, a hydrophilic polysaccharide, was used to modify the surface of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Initial water contact angle (WCA) and WCA after several washing cycles were studied as response variables by a 24 full factorial design. Several reaction parameters, such as contact time between gum Arabic and PET, gum Arabic concentration, curing temperature and curing time for PET modification were investigated. The most significant parameters were found to be the curing temperature and curing time. The optimized parameters led to a WCA reduction from 70° to 27°. The modified PET samples were characterized using several techniques including AFM, colorimetric, ATR-FTIR and contact angle which further confirmed a successful surface modification. Furthermore, bacterial adhesion assays have clearly shown that the treated PET material was highly effective in preventing the bacterial adhesion of Escherichia coli expressing YadA, an adhesive protein from Yersinia so-called Yersinia adhesin. The use of design of experiments techniques allowed for successfully attaining a PET material with a high bacterial anti-adhesiveness, using a simple grafting approach.This work was supported by the ViBrANT project that received funding from the EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the Marie Sklowdowska-Curie, Grant agreement no 765042 and the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UIDB/04469/2020.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

METABOLİK SENDROM KLİNİK PARAMETRELERİNDE SR-BI GEN POLİMORFİZMLERİ ETKİSİNİN ARAŞTIRILMASI

AMAÇ: Metabolik Sendrom (MetS) dünya genelinde giderek yayılan ve çok sayıda insanı etkileyen önemli bir morbidite nedenidir. Yüksek trigliserid (TG) düzeyi ve düşük HDL düzeyi MetS teşhisindeki önemli faktörlerdir. SR-BI’ın ateroskleroz üzerindeki koruyucu etkisi ters kolesterol transportu sürecine katkıda bulunmasıyla gerçekleştirdiği (1) için rs 5888 ve rs 4238001 gen varyantlarının metabolik sendromlu hastaların klinik parametrelerine etkilerini araştırmayı hedefledik. MATERYAL VE METOD: 30-65 yaş aralığında 104 erkek metabolik sendromlu hasta ile metabolik sendrom hikayesi olmayan sağlıklı 100 erkek bireyin bulunduğu kontrol grubundan oluşmaktadır (SU TF Etik Kurul Karar No: 2015/19). Kan örneklerinden DNA izole edilip, saflık tayinleri ve miktarları hesaplandı. SR-BI genine ait ekzon 8’deki C>T (rs5888) değişimi ve ekzon 1’deki C>T (rs4238001) değişimi SNaPshot multipleks sistemi ile incelendi (Tablo 1, 2, 3 ve Şekil 1). Hasta ve kontrol gruplarında genotip ve allel dağılımları istatistiksel analizle (SPSS18) incelendi. BULGULAR: rs4238001 polimorfizminin hastalığa yatkınlık riskini artırdığı, rs5888 polimorfizminin ise etkisinin olmadığı görülmüştür. Hasta grubu rs4238001 genotiplere göre gruplandığında; kilo, vki, bel çevresi, HDL ve trigliserid ölçütlerinin arasında herhangi bir ilişki belirlenememiştir (pkilo=0,952; pVKİ=0,659; pbel çevresi= 0,303; pHDL= 0,622; ptrigliserid= 0,661) (Tablo 4). TARTIŞMA: Popülasyonumuzda rs4238001 ve HDL ya da diğer klinik veriler arasında bir ilişkiye rastlanmamıştır

Co-Culture of Keratinocyte-Staphylococcus aureus on Cu-Ag-Zn/CuO and Cu-Ag-W Nanoparticle Loaded Bacterial Cellulose:PMMA Bandages

Pressurized gyration and its sister processes are novel methods to produce polymeric fibers. Potential applications for such fibers include wound dressings, tissue engineering scaffolds, and filters. This study reports on a pressurized gyration technique that employs pressured N2 gas to prepare biocompatible wound dressing bandages from bacterial cellulose and poly(methylmethacrylate) polymer blended with alloyed antimicrobial nanoparticles. Resulting bandages are manufactured with high product yield and characterized for their chemical, physical, and mechanical properties. Increased density in solutions with additional antimicrobial nanoparticles results in increased fiber diameters. Also, addition of antimicrobial nanoparticles enhances ultimate tensile strength and Young’s modulus of the bandages. Typical molecular bonding in the bandages is confirmed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, with peaks that have higher intensity and narrowing points being caused by additional antimicrobial nanoparticles. More so, the cellular response to the bandages and the accompanying antimicrobial activity are studied in detail by in vitro co-culture of Staphylococcus aureus and keratinocytes. Antimicrobial nanoparticle-loaded bandage samples show increased cell viability and bacteria inhibition during co-culture and are found to have a promising future as epidermal wound dressing materials

Self-Lubricating Properties of Laser Claddings for High Temperature Forming Processes

This thesis summarizes the work done on tribological characterization of multifunctional hardfacing coatings with self-lubricating properties, intended for use in mechanical components operating in high temperature applications for which conventional lubricants are no longer effective. Deposition techniques like laser cladding have a great potential in reworking/repair of high value industrial components in order to extend their lifetime. It is expected that the use of self-lubricating laser claddings could be useful in high temperature applications like metal forming, leading to decreased friction and wear. In this study, the tribological behavior of self-lubricating claddings has been studied against steel and aluminum counter surfaces, using ASI52100 bearing steel in addition to AA6082 and AA2007 aluminum flat pins as the counter bodies. Nickel- and iron-based powders have been chosen for the preparation of claddings. Self-lubricating properties of Ag/MoS2 have been compared to an untreated reference cladding and grade 1.2367 tool steel. For steel counter surfaces, tribological properties in the temperature range between RT and 600⁰C have been investigated and at 300°C for aluminum counter surfaces. Tribological tests were done by a high frequency linear oscillation (SRV) test machine under reciprocating conditions. The wear scar and volume of coatings were measured by using a 3D optical profilometer. SEM/EDS analysis were additionally performed for the characterization of microstructure and wear scar. The results indicated that MoS2 reduced friction and wear of the Fe-based cladding material when tested against steel at room temperature compared to the reference alloy and grade 1.2367 tool steel, and that the addition of silver further decreased wear in addition to early stage friction. It was also observed that the tribolayer, which was formed during the sliding of Ni-based - 5 Ag - 10 MoS2 and against aluminium under lubricated conditions, was protective and provided low and steady friction.

Self-Lubricating Properties of Laser Claddings for High Temperature Forming Processes

This thesis summarizes the work done on tribological characterization of multifunctional hardfacing coatings with self-lubricating properties, intended for use in mechanical components operating in high temperature applications for which conventional lubricants are no longer effective. Deposition techniques like laser cladding have a great potential in reworking/repair of high value industrial components in order to extend their lifetime. It is expected that the use of self-lubricating laser claddings could be useful in high temperature applications like metal forming, leading to decreased friction and wear. In this study, the tribological behavior of self-lubricating claddings has been studied against steel and aluminum counter surfaces, using ASI52100 bearing steel in addition to AA6082 and AA2007 aluminum flat pins as the counter bodies. Nickel- and iron-based powders have been chosen for the preparation of claddings. Self-lubricating properties of Ag/MoS2 have been compared to an untreated reference cladding and grade 1.2367 tool steel. For steel counter surfaces, tribological properties in the temperature range between RT and 600⁰C have been investigated and at 300°C for aluminum counter surfaces. Tribological tests were done by a high frequency linear oscillation (SRV) test machine under reciprocating conditions. The wear scar and volume of coatings were measured by using a 3D optical profilometer. SEM/EDS analysis were additionally performed for the characterization of microstructure and wear scar. The results indicated that MoS2 reduced friction and wear of the Fe-based cladding material when tested against steel at room temperature compared to the reference alloy and grade 1.2367 tool steel, and that the addition of silver further decreased wear in addition to early stage friction. It was also observed that the tribolayer, which was formed during the sliding of Ni-based - 5 Ag - 10 MoS2 and against aluminium under lubricated conditions, was protective and provided low and steady friction.