This review focuses on materials and methods used to induce phenotypic changes in macrophages and fibroblasts. Herein, we give a brief overview on how changes in macrophages and fibroblasts phenotypes are critical biomarkers for identification of implant acceptance, wound healing effectiveness, and are also essential for evaluating the regenerative capabilities of some hybrid strategies that involve the combination of natural and synthetic materials. The different types of cells present during the host response have been extensively studied for evaluating the reaction to different materials and there are varied material approaches towards fabrication of biocompatible substrates. We discuss how natural and synthetic materials have been used to engineer desirable outcomes in lung, heart, liver, skin, and musculoskeletal implants, and how certain properties such as rigidity, surface shape, and porosity play key roles in the progression of the host response. Several fabrication strategies are discussed to control the phenotype of infiltrating macrophages and fibroblasts: decellularization of scaffolds, surface coatings, implant shape, and pore size apart from biochemical signaling pathways that can inhibit or accelerate unfavorable host responses. It is essential to factor all the different design principles and material fabrication criteria for evaluating the choice of implant materials or regenerative therapeutic strategies.

The pH of dermal wounds shifts from neutral during the inflammatory phase to slightly basic in the tissue remodeling phase. Stage specific wound treatment can be developed using environmentally responsive alginate hydrogels. The chemistry of these networks dictates swelling behavior. Here, we fabricated alginate hydrogels using chain growth, step growth, and combined mixed mode gelation methods to crosslink methacrylated alginate (ALGMA) and gain control over swelling responses. Methacrylation of the alginate network was confirmed through NMR spectroscopy. Strontium cations were introduced to fabricate stiffer, dually crosslinked hydrogels. Dual crosslinking significantly decreased the swelling response over the pH range of 3-9 for step growth and chain growth hydrogels, with no impact on mixed mode hydrogels. The extent of crosslinking altered the hydrogel degradation profiles under accelerated degradation conditions. Encapsulated NIH/3T3 fibroblasts in the different ALGMA hydrogels remained viable with greater cell proliferation in the stiffer gels. Collagen organization deposited by the NIH/3T3 fibroblasts was monitored using second harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy and was influenced by the crosslinking mechanism. Ionic chain growth and ionic mixed mode crosslinked ALGMA hydrogels caused relatively isotropic collagen organization, particularly 10 days post-cell encapsulation. Principal component analysis (PCA) was employed to uncover correlations between the observed properties. The ability of these environmentally responsive gels to induce isotropic collagen and respond to pH changes means they hold promise as phase specific wound dressings. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 106A: 2934-2943, 2018.

There is a growing interest in the use of bioinoculants to assist mineral fertilizers in improving crop production and yield. Azotobacter and Pseudomonas are two agriculturally relevant strains of bacteria which have been established as efficient bioinoculants. An experiment involving addition of graded concentrations of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles was undertaken using log phase cultures of Azotobacter and Pseudomonas. Growth kinetics revealed a clear trend of gradual decrease with Pseudomonas; however, Azotobacter exhibited a twofold enhancement in growth with increase in the concentration of ZnO concentration. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), supported by energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) analyses, illustrated the significant effect of ZnO nanoparticles on Azotobacter by the enhancement in the abundance of globular biofilm-like structures and the intracellular presence of ZnO, with the increase in its concentration. It can be surmised that extracellular mucilage production in Azotobacter may be providing a barrier to the nanoparticles. Further experiments with Azotobacter by inoculation of wheat and tomato seeds with ZnO nanoparticles alone or bacteria grown on ZnO-infused growth medium revealed interesting results. Vigour index of wheat seeds reduced by 40-50% in the presence of different concentrations of ZnO nanoparticles alone, which was alleviated by 15-20%, when ZnO and Azotobacter were present together. However, a drastic 50-60% decrease in vigour indices of tomato seeds was recorded, irrespective of Azotobacter inoculation.

We fabricated photocrosslinked, environmentally responsive alginate hydrogels for tissue engineering applications.