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A novel furanone-containing antibacterial resin composite has been prepared and evaluated. compressive strength (CS) and Streptococcus mutans viability were used to evaluate the mechanical strength and antibacterial activity of the composites. The modified resin composites showed a significant antibacterial activity without substantially decreasing the mechanical strengths. With 5-30 % addition of the furanone derivative, the composite kept its original CS unchanged but showed a significant antibacterial activity with a 16-68 % reduction in the S. mutans viability. Further, the antibacterial function of the new composite was not affected by human saliva. The aging study indicates that the composite may have a long-lasting antibacterial function. Within the limitations of this study, it appears that the experimental antibacterial resin composite may potentially be developed into a clinically attractive dental restorative due to its high mechanical strength and antibacterial function.

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Aim The purpose of this work is to determine if tumor-tropic neural stem cells (NSCs) can improve the tumor-selective distribution and retention of nanoparticles (NPs) within invasive brain tumors. Materials & methods Streptavidin-conjugated, polystyrene NPs are surface-coupled to biotinylated human NSCs. These NPs are large (798 nm), yet when conjugated to tropic cells, they are too large to passively diffuse through brain tissue or cross the blood–tumor barrier. NP distribution and retention was quantified 4 days after injections located either adjacent to an intracerebral glioma, in the contralateral hemisphere, or intravenously. Results & conclusion In all three in vivo injection paradigms, NSC-coupled NPs exhibited significantly improved tumor-selective distribution and retention over free-NP suspensions. These results provide proof-of-principle that NSCs can facilitate the tumor-selective distribution of NPs, a platform useful for improving intracranial drug delivery.

Intratumoral drug delivery is an inherently appealing approach for concentrating toxic chemotherapies at the site of action. This mode of administration is currently used in a number of clinical treatments such as neoadjuvant, adjuvant, and even standalone therapies when radiation and surgery are not possible. However, even when injected locally, it is difficult to achieve efficient distribution of chemotherapeutics throughout the tumor. This is primarily attributed to the high interstitial pressure which results in gradients that drive fluid away from the tumor center. The stiff extracellular matrix also limits drug penetration throughout the tumor. We have previously shown that neural stem cells can penetrate tumor interstitium, actively migrating even to hypoxic tumor cores. When used to deliver therapeutics, these migratory neural stem cells result in dramatically enhanced tumor coverage relative to conventional delivery approaches. We recently showed that neural stem cells maintain their tumor tropic properties when surface-conjugated to nanoparticles. Here we demonstrate that this hybrid delivery system can be used to improve the efficacy of docetaxel-loaded nanoparticles when administered intratumorally. This was achieved by conjugating drug-loaded nanoparticles to the surface of neural stem cells using a bond that allows the stem cells to efficiently distribute nanoparticles throughout the tumor before releasing the drug for uptake by tumor cells. The modular nature of this system suggests that it could be used to improve the efficacy of many chemotherapy drugs after intratumoral administration.

We have developed a novel bioactive resin-modified glass-ionomer cement system with therapeutic function to dentin capping mineralization. In the system, the newly synthesized star-shape poly(acrylic acid) was formulated with water, Fuji II LC filler, and bioactive glass S53P4 to form resin-modified glass-ionomer cement. Compressive strength (CS) was used as a screening tool for evaluation. The commercial glass-ionomer cement Fuji II LC was used as a control. All the specimens were conditioned in simulated body fluid (SBF) at 37 degrees C prior to testing. The effect of aging in SBF on CS and microhardness of the cements was investigated. Scanning electron microscopy was used to examine the in vitro dentin surface changes caused by the incorporation of bioactive glass. The results show that the system not only provided strengths comparable to original commercial Fuji II LC cement but also allowed the cement to help mineralize the dentin in the presence of SBF. It appears that this bioactive glass-ionomer cement system has direct therapeutic impact on dental restorations that require root surface fillings.