Despite advances in the bioprinting technology, biofabrication of circumferentially multilayered tubular tissues or organs with cellular heterogeneity, such as blood vessels, trachea, intestine, colon, ureter, and urethra, remains a challenge. Herein, a promising multichannel coaxial extrusion system (MCCES) for microfluidic bioprinting of circumferentially multilayered tubular tissues in a single step, using customized bioinks constituting gelatin methacryloyl, alginate, and eight-arm poly(ethylene glycol) acrylate with a tripentaerythritol core, is presented. These perfusable cannular constructs can be continuously tuned up from monolayer to triple layers at regular intervals across the length of a bioprinted tube. Using customized bioink and MCCES, bioprinting of several tubular tissue constructs using relevant cell types with adequate biofunctionality including cell viability, proliferation, and differentiation is demonstrated. Specifically, cannular urothelial tissue constructs are bioprinted, using human urothelial cells and human bladder smooth muscle cells, as well as vascular tissue constructs, using human umbilical vein endothelial cells and human smooth muscle cells. These bioprinted cannular tissues can be actively perfused with fluids and nutrients to promote growth and proliferation of the embedded cell types. The fabrication of such tunable and perfusable circumferentially multilayered tissues represents a fundamental step toward creating human cannular tissues.

A series of long-chain branched poly(L-lactide)s (LCB-PLAs) with controlled branch length were prepared by a simple and efficient method through a combination of ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of L-lactide and a coupling reaction between the terminal OH groups of the PLA prepolymers and the NCO groups of HDI. The influences of reaction conditions on the synthesis of the LCB-PLAs were investigated, and the structures of the resultant LCB-PLAs were characterized by 1 H NMR spectroscopy and SEC-MALLS. By adjusting the degree of polymerization and the composition of the prepolymers, LCB-PLAs with different branch densities and molecular weights between branch points were obtained. The effect of macromolecular chain branching on the rheology and crystallization of PLA was also investigated. The LCB structure contributed to the enhancement of the zero-shear viscosity, complex viscosity, storage modulus, melt strength, and strain hardening under elongational flow. Thermal behavior indicated that the branch structure resulted in a short nucleation induction period and more rapid crystallization, which can be a guarantee of high-strength foams.

The long-chain branched polylactides (LCB-PLAs) prepared by coupling the hydroxyl-terminated two-arm (linear) and triarm PLA prepolymers of identical arm length with hexamethylenediacianate (HDI) were used to improve the melt rheological and crystallization properties of linear polylactide resin, PLA 4032D from NatureWorks. The blends containing LCB-PLA displayed higher zero shear viscosities, more significant shear shinning, more melt elasticity, and much longer relaxation times together with significant strain hardening in elongational deformation. T g, T m and crystallinity (X c) of linear PLA remained virtually unaffected, but the crystallization rate increased obviously, since the branch points of LCB-PLAs could play a role of nucleating agent. High melt strength, fast crystallization, and favorable miscibility improved the foaming ability of the linear/LCB-PLA blends, substantially.

Arsenical drugs have achieved hallmark success in treating patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia, but expanding their clinical utility to solid tumors has proven difficult with the contradiction between the therapeutic efficacy and the systemic toxicity. Here, leveraging efforts from materials science, biocompatible PEGylated arsenene nanodots (AsNDs@PEG) with high monoelemental arsenic purity that can selectively and effectively treat solid tumors are synthesized. The intrinsic selective killing effect of AsNDs@PEG is closely related to high oxidative stress in tumor cells, which leads to an activated valence‐change of arsenic (from less toxic As0 to severely toxic oxidation states), followed by decreased superoxide dismutase activity and massive reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. These effects occur selectively within cancer cells, causing mitochondrial damage, cell‐cycle arrest, and DNA damage. Moreover, AsNDs@PEG when applied in a multi‐drug combination strategy with β‐elemene, a plant‐derived anticancer drug, achieves synergistic antitumor outcomes, and its newly discovered on‐demand photothermal properties facilitate the elimination of the tumors without recurrence, potentially further expanding its clinical utility. In line of the practicability for a large‐scale fabrication and negligible systemic toxicity of AsNDs@PEG (even at high doses and with repetitive administration), a new‐concept arsenical drug with high therapeutic efficacy for selective solid tumor therapy is provided.

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Rationale: Aberrant activation of macrophages with mitochondria dismiss was proved to be associated with pathogenesis of ALI (acute lung injury). Exosomes from adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AdMSC-Exos) have been distinguished by their low immunogenicity, lack of tumorigenicity, and high clinical safety, but their role in treating ALI and the mechanism involved need to be defined. In this study, we sought to investigate whether the mitochondrial donation from AdMSC-Exos provides profound protection against LPS-induced ALI in mice, accompanied by improvement of macrophage mitochondrial function. Methods: C57BL/6 mice were orotracheally instilled with LPS (1 mg/kg). AdMSC-Exos were administered via the tail vein 4 h after LPS inhalation. Flow cytometry, H&E, Quantitative Real-Time PCR, immunofluorescence (IF), confocal microscopy imaging was conducted to investigate lung tissue inflammation and macrophage mitochondrial function. And further observe the transfer of exosomes and the effect on mitochondrial function of MH-S cells through in vitro experiments. Results: AdMSC-Exos can transfer the stem cell-derived mitochondria components to alveolar macrophages in a dose-dependent manner. Likely through complementing the damaged mitochondria, AdMSC-Exos exhibited the ability to elevate the level of mtDNA, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), OXPHOS activity and ATP generation, while reliving mROS stress in LPS-challenged macrophages. Restoring mitochondrial integrity via AdMSC-Exos treatment enabled macrophages shifting to anti-inflammatory phenotype, as featured with the down-regulation of IL-1β, TNF-α and iNOS secretion and increase in production of anti-inflammatory cytokines IL-10 and Arg-1. As we depleted alveolar macrophages using clodronate liposomes, the protective role for AdMSC-Exos was largely abrogated. Conclusions: AdMSC-Exos can effectively donate mitochondria component improved macrophages mitochondrial integrity and oxidative phosphorylation level, leading to the resumption of metabolic and immune homeostasis of airway macrophages and mitigating lung inflammatory pathology.

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This article deals with (1) synthesis of novel cyclic carbonate monomer (2-oxo [1,3]dioxan-5-yl)carbamic acid benzyl ester (CAB) containing protected amino groups; (2) ring-opening copolymerization of the cyclic monomer with L-lactide (LA) to provide novel degradable poly(ester-carbonate)s with functional groups; (3) removal of the protective benzyloxycarbonyl (Cbz) groups by catalytic hydrogenation to afford the corresponding poly(ester-co-carbonate)s with free amino groups; (4) grafting of oligopeptide Gly-Arg-Gly-Asp-Ser-Tyr (GRGDSY, abbreviated as RGD) onto the copolymer pendant amino groups in the presence of 1,1 0-carbonyldiimidazole (CDI). The structures of P(LA-co-CA/RGD) and its precursor were confirmed by 1 H NMR analysis. Cell experiments showed that P(LA-co-CA/RGD) had improved adhesion and proliferation behavior. Therefore, the novel RGD-grafted block copolymer is promising for cell or tissue engineering applications. V