Portable Nanocomposite System for Wound Healing in Space

Abstract

It is well known that skin wound healing could be severely impaired in space. In particular, the skin is the tissue at risk of injury, especially during human-crewed space missions. Here, we propose a hybrid system based on the biocompatible poly 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (pHEMA) to actively support a nanocontainer filled with the drug. Specifically, during the cryo-polymerization of HEMA, halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) embedded with thymol (Thy) were added as a component. Thy is a natural pharmaceutical ingredient used to confer wound healing properties to the material, whereas HNTs were used to entrap the Thy into the lumen to ensure a sustained release of the drug. The as-obtained material was characterized by chemical–physical methods, and tests were performed to assess its ability for a prolonged drug release. The results showed that the adopted synthetic procedure allows the formation of a super absorbent system with good swelling ability that can contain up to 5.5 mg of Thy in about 90 mg of dried sponge. Releasing tests demonstrated the excellent material’s ability to perform a slow controlled delivery of 62% of charged Thy within a week. As humans venture deeper into space, with more extended missions, limited medical capabilities, and a higher risk of skin wounds, the proposed device would be a versatile miniaturized device for skin repair in space.

Total Bio-Based Material for Drug Delivery and Iron Chelation to Fight Cancer through Antimicrobial Activity

“…Natural clay nanotubes, known as halloysite, are one such nanoscale delivery method. It was discovered that halloysite is a practical and affordable nanoscale container for the encapsulation of physiologically active compounds, such as medicines and biocides [24,25].…”

TiO2/Loofah–Halloysite Bio–Hybrid Composites as Efficient Systems for VOCs Removal

“…SEM images were with a secondary electron detector using an acceleration voltage of 30 kV. Energy–dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy (EDX) was used to obtain an analysis of the chemical elements of all prepared materials and determine their chemical composition [33] …”

“…Energydispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) was used to obtain an analysis of the chemical elements of all prepared materials and determine their chemical composition. [33] The UV-Vis DRS (Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy) and Photoluminescence Spectroscopy (PL)…”

Supramolecular biomaterials as drug nanocontainers with iron depletion properties for antimicrobial applications

“…Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was determined as previously described. 34 Briefly, a bacterial suspension of 0.5 McFarland (equal to 1.5 Â 10 8 CFU mL À1 ) was made for each strain under examination, and subsequent dilutions in Mueller-Hinton broth Oxoidt (Thermo Scientifict, CM0405B) were prepared to obtain a final concentration of 10 4 CFU mL À1 in the plate. b-cyclodextrin-maltol formulation was added in a concentration range from 1.5 mg to 12.0 mg. Each plate was prepared by including a positive control for bacterial growth (C+) and a negative sterility control for the medium Mueller-Hinton (CÀ).…”

“…Thanks to their large and interconnected pores, cryogels are characterized by superior mechanical and swelling properties. 16 The literature reports highly porous cryogels made of poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (pHEMA) and poly(tannic acid) (pTA) 17 as antimicrobial materials for wound dressing. Similarly, poly(hydroxyethyl methacrylate)- N -methacryloyl-( l )-histidine methyl ester (pHEMA-MAH) based cryogel membranes imprinted with lysozyme were reported to be innovative materials based on α/β/γ-cyclodextrin (α/β/γ-CD) that has been co-polymerized with 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) to obtain 3D macroporous cryogels with hydrophobic cavities, 18 which have been successfully loaded with different drugs achieving an impressive drug loading efficiency (DLE).…”