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The complicated synthesis procedure and limited preparation size of hydrogel inhibit its clinical application. Therefore, a facile preparation method for large-size hydrogel is required. In this study, a series of curcumin (Cur)/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogel in a large size with different Cur concentrations is prepared by a facile physical-chemical crosslinking. The physicochemical properties, antibacterial performance and accelerating wound healing ability are evaluated with the aim of attaining a novel and effective wound dressing. The results show that the as-prepared hydrogel with the optimal Cur to PVA volume ratio of 1:5 (20% Cur/PVA) exhibits the best antibacterial abilities to E. coli (85.6%) and S. aureus (97%) than other hydrogels. When the volume ratio of Cur to PVA is 1:10 (10% Cur/PVA), the hydrogel can significantly accelerate the wound healing in rats, and successfully reconstruct intact and thickened epidermis during 14 day of healing of impaired wounds after histological examination. In one word, the present approach can shed new light on designing new type of hydrogels with promising applications in wound dressing.

Dental implantation has been the primary method for the treatment of tooth loss, but longer than 3 months healing times are generally required. Because immediate load implants are suitable only for certain categories of implant patients, it has value to develop a novel method to facilitate the implant-bone osseointegration process. Cylindrical titanium implants were implanted in the tooth sockets of beagles, and microelectrode stimulation of the sympathetic nerves in the infraorbital nerve was performed after implantation for 1 week. The authors found that one-sided nerve stimulation was shown to evoke consistent electric potential changes in both sides of the infraorbital nerves. Moreover, after 4 weeks of implantation, more new bone was clearly observed around the implants in the beagles that received electrical stimulation treatment than was observed in the control animals. Furthermore, a higher mineralization density was measured in the new peri-implant bone tissues of the stimulated beagles when compared to controls. These results demonstrate that the simple and safe physical method of microelectrode stimulation to sympathetic nerves can promote the formation of new bone and the osseointegration of implants. This technique is worth promoting and has the potential to reduce the healing time of dental implantation in future clinical cases.

Good osseointegration and gingival epithelial sealing play a key role in preventing peri-implantitis of dental implants. In addition to antibacterial qualities, the transmucosal surface of the implant is beneficial to the growth of fibroblasts and epithelial cells, while its body surface is suitable for the growth of osteoblasts and is resistant to epithelial cells and fibroblasts. In this study, both microgrooves mimicking the extracellular matrix (ECM) and titanium (Ti) dioxide nanotubes with different parameter settings were produced on Ti surfaces. The behavior of MG63 osteoblasts, L929 fibroblasts, SCC epithelial cells and Porphyromonas gingivalis on these decorated Ti surfaces was detected to quantify their performances in terms of osseointegration, biological sealing and antimicrobial ability. Via a scoring method based on these results, we concluded that 100–50–20–10–5 μm width grooves arranged in the horizontal direction at 2 μm depth were the priority for the design of the implant’s transmucosal surface. By changing the depth to 3.6 μm and further decorating with 55 nm nanotubes, a best surface design for the implant body was acquired. Hierarchical ECM-like micro/nano patterns could provide novel designs for dental implants to achieve excellent gingival epithelial sealing and osseointegration, which would facilitate the clinical application of dental implants.

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