Sharif Digital Repository

Stimuli responsive hydrogels (SRHs) are attractive bioscaffolds for tissue engineering. The structural similarity of SRHs to the extracellular matrix (ECM) of many tissues offers great advantages for a minimally invasive tissue repair. Among various potential applications of SRHs, cartilage regeneration has attracted significant attention. The repair of cartilage damage is challenging in orthopedics owing to its low repair capacity. Recent advances include development of injectable hydrogels to minimize invasive surgery with nanostructured features and rapid stimuli-responsive characteristics. Nanostructured SRHs with more structural similarity to natural ECM up-regulate cell-material... 

Gel-fiber structure with the potential of extracellular matrix (ECM) mimics can be introduced as a suitable candidate for bioengineering applications. In this study, piezoelectric gellan gel-fiber was prepared with incorporating poly(vinylidenefluoride) (PVDF)/glass-flake in the gellan matrix. Glass-flake nanoparticles were modified with silane group, PVDF/glass-flake nanofibers were synthesized and short-strand nanofibers were fabricated using the mechanical homogenizer method. Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) analyses were used for surface modification study, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM),... 

In the present study, alginate/cartilage extracellular matrix (ECM)-based injectable hydrogel was developed incorporated with silk fibroin nanofibers (SFN) for cartilage tissue engineering. The in situ forming hydrogels were composed of different ionic crosslinked alginate concentrations with 1% w/v enzymatically crosslinked phenolized cartilage ECM, resulting in an interpenetrating polymer network (IPN). The response surface methodology (RSM) approach was applied to optimize IPN hydrogel's mechanical properties by varying alginate and SFN concentrations. The results demonstrated that upon increasing the alginate concentration, the compression modulus improved. The SFN concentration was... 

For a successful repair and reconstruction of bladder tissue, fabrication of scaffolds with proper biochemical and biomechanical characteristics is necessary. Decellularized bladder tissue has been proposed in previous studies as a gold standard material for scaffold fabrication. However, weak mechanical properties of such a load-bearing tissue has remained a challenge. Incorporation of both biological and synthetic materials has been known as an effective strategy for improving mechanical and biological properties of the scaffolds. In the present work, a simple process was developed to fabricate hybrid hydrogel scaffolds with a biomimetic architecture from the natural urinary bladder... 

Interaction between intracellular dynamics and extracellular matrix (ECM) generally occurred into very thin fragment of moving cell, namely lamellipodia, enables all movable cells to crawl on ECM. In fast-moving cells such as fish Keratocytes, Lamellipodia including most cell area finds a fan-like shape during migration, with a variety of aspect ratio function of fish type. In this work, our purpose is to present a novel and more complete two-dimensional continuum mathematical model of actomyosin-cytosolic two-phase flow of a self-deforming Keratocyte with circular spreaded to steady fan-like shape. In the new approach, in addition to the two-phase flow of the F-actin and cytosol, the... 

Thin porous membranes are important components in a microfluidic device, serving as separators, filters, and scaffolds for cell culture. However, the fabrication and the integration of these membranes possess many challenges, which restrict their widespread applications. This paper reports a facile technique to fabricate robust membrane-embedded microfluidic devices. We integrated an electrospun membrane into a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) device using the simple plasma-activated bonding technique. To increase the flexibility of the membrane and to address the leakage problem, the electrospun membrane was fabricated with the highest weight ratio of PDMS to polymethylmethacrylate (i.e., 6:1... 

Generation of reactive oxygen species, delayed blood clotting, prolonged inflammation, bacterial infection, and slow cell proliferation are the main challenges of effective wound repair. Herein, a multifunctional extracellular matrix-mimicking hydrogel is fabricated through abundant hydrogen bonding among the functional groups of gelatin and tannic acid (TA) as a green chemistry approach. The hydrogel shows adjustable physicochemical properties by altering the concentration of TA and it represents high safety features both in vitro and in vivo on fibroblasts, red blood cells, and mice organs. In addition to the merit of facile encapsulation of cell proliferation-inducing hydrophilic drugs,... 

Gel-fiber structure with the potential of extracellular matrix (ECM) mimics can be introduced as a suitable candidate for bioengineering applications. In this study, piezoelectric gellan gel-fiber was prepared with incorporating poly(vinylidenefluoride) (PVDF)/glass-flake in the gellan matrix. Glass-flake nanoparticles were modified with silane group, PVDF/glass-flake nanofibers were synthesized and short-strand nanofibers were fabricated using the mechanical homogenizer method. Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) analyses were used for surface modification study, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM),... 

The in vitro endothelial response of human umbilical vein endothelial cells was investigated on a poly (caprolactone)-based polyurethane surface vs an in situ TiO2-polyurethane nanocomposite surface, which has been produced as scaffolds for artificial vascular graft. The in situ synthesis of TiO2 nanoparticles in polyurethane provided surface properties that facilitated cellular adhesion, cell sensing, cell probing and especially cell migration. Cells on the nanocomposite surface have elongated morphology and were able to produce more extracellular matrix. All of these advantages led to an increase in the rate of endothelialization of the nanocomposite scaffold surface vs pure polyurethane.... 

Bioreactor system has been used in bone tissue engineering in order to simulate dynamic nature of bone tissue environments. Perfusion bioreactors have been reported as the most efficient types of shear-loading bioreactor. Also, combination of forces, such as rotation plus perfusion, has been reported to enhance cell growth and osteogenic differentiation. Mathematical modeling using sophisticated infrastructure processes could be helpful and streamline the development of functional grafts by estimating and defining an effective range of bioreactor settings for better augmentation of tissue engineering. This study is aimed to conduct computational modeling for newly designed bioreactors in... 

Optimal hyperplastic coeficients of the micromechanical constituents of the human brain stem were investigated. An evolutionary optimization algorithm was combined with a Finite Element (FE) model of a Representative Volume Element (RVE) to nd the optimal material properties of axon and Extra Cellular Matrix (ECM). The tension and compression test results of a previously published experiment were used for optimizing the material coeficients, and the shear experiment was used for the validation of the resulting constitutive model. The optimization algorithm was used to search for optimal shear moduli and ber sti ness of axon and ECM by tting the average stress in the axonal direction with the... 

This paper presents a three-dimensional micromechanical model of brain white matter tissue as a transversely isotropic soft composite described by the generalized Ogden hyperelastic model. The embedded element technique, with corrected stiffness redundancy in large deformations, was used for the embedment of a histology-informed probabilistic distribution of the axonal fibers in the extracellular matrix. The model was linked to a multi-objective, multi-parametric optimization algorithm, using the response surface methodology, for characterization of material properties of the axonal fibers and extracellular matrix in an inverse finite element analysis. The optimum hyperelastic... 

Cartilage is an avascular tissue with limited self-repair ability. Since the methods for treatment of cartilage defects have not been effective, new therapies based on tissue engineering are considered over the recent years. In this study, human cartilage tissue was decellularized and porous injectable microcarriers (MCs) composed of acellular extracellular matrix (ECM) of cartilage tissue and chitosan (CS), with different ECM weight ratios, were fabricated by electrospraying technique to be used in the treatment of articular cartilage defects. Various properties of ECM/CS MCs such as microstructure, mechanical strength, water uptake behaviour, and biodegradability rate were investigated.... 

Designing multifunctional surfaces is key to develop advanced materials for orthopedic applications. In this study, we design a double-layer coating, assembled onto the completely regular titania nanotubes (cRTNT) array. Benefiting from the biological and topological characteristics of chitosan nanofibers (CH) and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) through a unique assembly, the designed material features promoted osteoblast cell viability, prolonged antibiotic release profile, as well as inhibited bacterial biofilm formation. The synergistic effect of RGO and CH on the biological performance of the surface is investigatSed. The unique morphology of the nanofibers leads to the partial coverage of... 

This review aims to propose the integrative implementation of microfluidic devices, biomaterials, and computational methods that can lead to a significant progress in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine researches. Simultaneous implementation of multiple techniques can be very helpful in addressing biological processes. Providing controllable biochemical and biomechanical cues within artificial extracellular matrix similar to in vivo conditions is crucial in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine researches. Microfluidic devices provide precise spatial and temporal control over cell microenvironment. Moreover, generation of accurate and controllable spatial and temporal... 

Interaction between intracellular dynamics and extracellular matrix (ECM) generally occurred into very thin fragment of moving cell, namely lamellipodia, enables all movable cells to crawl on ECM. In fast-moving cells such as fish Keratocytes, Lamellipodia including most cell area finds a fan-like shape during migration, with a variety of aspect ratio function of fish type. In this work, our purpose is to present a novel and more complete two-dimensional continuum mathematical model of actomyosin-cytosolic two-phase flow of a self-deforming Keratocyte with circular spreaded to steady fan-like shape. In the new approach, in addition to the two-phase flow of the F-actin and cytosol, the... 

Controlling topographic features at all length scales is of great importance for the interaction of cells with tissue regenerative materials. We utilized an indirect three-dimensional printing method to fabricate polymeric scaffolds with pre-defined and controlled external and internal architecture that had an interconnected structure with macro- (400-500 μm) and micro- (∼25 μm) porosity. Polycaprolactone (PCL) was used as model system to study the kinetics of tissue growth within porous scaffolds. The surface of the scaffolds was decorated with TiO2 and bioactive glass (BG) nanoparticles to the better match to nanoarchitecture of extracellular matrix (ECM). Micrometric BG particles were... 

Understanding the foreign body response (FBR) and desiging strategies to modulate such a response represent a grand challenge for implant devices and biomaterials. Here, the development of a microfluidic platform is reported, i.e., the FBR-on-a-chip (FBROC) for modeling the cascade of events during immune cell response to implants. The platform models the native implant microenvironment where the implants are interfaced directly with surrounding tissues, as well as vasculature with circulating immune cells. The study demonstrates that the release of cytokines such as monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1) from the extracellular matrix (ECM)-like hydrogels in the bottom tissue chamber... 

Generation of reactive oxygen species, delayed blood clotting, prolonged inflammation, bacterial infection, and slow cell proliferation are the main challenges of effective wound repair. Herein, a multifunctional extracellular matrix-mimicking hydrogel is fabricated through abundant hydrogen bonding among the functional groups of gelatin and tannic acid (TA) as a green chemistry approach. The hydrogel shows adjustable physicochemical properties by altering the concentration of TA and it represents high safety features both in vitro and in vivo on fibroblasts, red blood cells, and mice organs. In addition to the merit of facile encapsulation of cell proliferation-inducing hydrophilic drugs,... 

Generation of reactive oxygen species, delayed blood clotting, prolonged inflammation, bacterial infection, and slow cell proliferation are the main challenges of effective wound repair. Herein, a multifunctional extracellular matrix-mimicking hydrogel is fabricated through abundant hydrogen bonding among the functional groups of gelatin and tannic acid (TA) as a green chemistry approach. The hydrogel shows adjustable physicochemical properties by altering the concentration of TA and it represents high safety features both in vitro and in vivo on fibroblasts, red blood cells, and mice organs. In addition to the merit of facile encapsulation of cell proliferation-inducing hydrophilic drugs,...