Marine-derived polymers are environmentally friendly
and sustainable
biomaterials that have structural similarities with the main components
of the extracellular matrix. Moreover, some marine polymers have specific
bioactivity that can be transferred to the systems made of these biomolecules.
Herein, we developed antibacterial adhesive films combining two marine
polysaccharides, namely, fucoidan and chitosan. Fucoidan was functionalized
with catechol groups (FCat) to improve its adhesive properties. This
modification enhanced also the fucoidan antibacterial properties:
while fucoidan is active against Gram-positive bacteria, FCat showed
bactericidal activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria.
To improve the processability and mechanical properties, FCat was
blended with chitosan and solvent-casted to obtain films. These films
exhibited an adhesion strength similar to the one of clinically used
natural adhesives and no cytotoxicity: fibroblastic cells attached
and remained viable on the films. Altogether our results demonstrated
that the developed antibacterial and adhesive films are a feasible
alternative of cytotoxic synthetic adhesives used for soft tissue
healing applications.
Silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) are widely used in biomedical
applications,
such as cancer therapy/diagnosis or tissue engineering and regenerative
medicine. Herein, we synthesized SiNPs and modified them with sulfonic
acid groups (by organosilylation followed by oxidation) or a sulfated
polysaccharide (i.e., fucoidan, a seaweed biopolymer, by using electrostatic
surface immobilization) due to the known capacity of the sulfonic/sulfate
moieties to stabilize proteins and promote stem cell differentiation
toward the osteogenic lineage. The developed pristine and functionalized
nanoparticles were characterized by dynamic light scattering (DLS),
scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy
(TEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), showing the monodisperse
size distribution (between 360 and 450 nm) and the success of the
coating/functionalization with fucoidan or sulfonic groups. The developed
SiNPs (at a concentration of 50 μg/mL) were assessed through
their contact with SaOs2 cells evidencing their cytocompatibility.
Furthermore, the osteogenic differentiation of bmMSCs was evaluated
by the quantification of ALP activity, as well as the expression profile
of osteogenic-related genes, such as Runx2, ALP, and OP. We found
that the coating of the SiNPs with fucoidan induced the osteogenic
differentiation of bmMSCs, being an effective mediator of bone regeneration.
We report on the synthesis of hyaluronan (HA) brush-like
copolymers
and their application as antagonists of tumorigenic CD44-HA interactions.
HA (4.8 kDa, ca. 24 saccharides) was grafted on 2-hydrohyethyl methacrylate
(HEMA) by end-on oxime ligation. The obtained copolymers were compared
with low and high molecular weight HA in terms of hydrolysis kinetics
in the presence of hyaluronidase (isothermal titration calorimetry)
and interactions with CD44 (surface plasmon resonance). The results
evidenced that the high molecular weight HA and HA-g-HEMA have a much higher affinity to CD44 than low molecular weight
HA. Additionally, slower enzymatic degradation was observed for the
copolymer, making it an excellent candidate for active targeting of
tumorigenic CD44-HA interactions. We, therefore, investigated the
effect of the copolymer on cancer cell lines with different expression
of CD44 and observed an efficient declustering of CD44 that is usually
associated with reduction of metastasis and drug resistance.
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