Novel electrospun chitosan/PEO membranes for more predictive nanoparticle transport studies at biological barriers

Abstract

The design of safe and effective nanoparticles (NPs) for commercial and medical applications requires a profound understanding of NP translocation and effects at biological barriers. To gain mechanistic insights, physiologically...

Ultralarge suspended and perforated graphene membranes for cell culture applications

“…lung, intestine, skin, placenta) since widely used commercial track-etched polymer membranes exhibit poor permeability for larger molecules and particles, prohibiting predictive transfer studies and hazard assessment. 26–29 Our findings provide first proof-of-concept for the feasibility to achieve large suspended and microporous graphene membranes, which are biocompatible and allow for the cultivation of confluent cell monolayers. We believe that patterned, suspended graphene will lead to improved communication of cells through the atomically thin membrane and increase the permeability of the studied compounds, which needs to be confirmed in future studies.…”

“…46 Currently, the most widely used membranes are artificial track-etched microporous polymer (PET, PC) membranes, which poorly mimic physiological basement membranes and often exhibit low permeability and/or nonspecific binding of macromolecules or particles. [27][28][29] In recent years, graphene membrane technologies have shown exciting potential for biological applications such as biomedical therapies or tissue engineering. 47 Graphene is atomically thin, thermally and mechanically very stable, flexible and stretchable, and a permissive substrate to cultivate cells.…”