Special Issue on the Advances in Engineering for Women’s Health

Vita, R. De; Munson, Jennifer M.

doi:10.1007/s10439-021-02837-5

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…To address the substantial gaps in medical knowledge, researchers have leveraged tissue engineering approaches to transform our understanding of ovarian follicle development, [4,5] endometriosis, [6] gynecological cancers, [7] and other disorders of the endometrium. [8] In addition, special journal issues focusing on engineering for women's health [9][10][11] and indepth review articles [12,13] have increased visibility for this body of work. However, there is still much to be done to address the urgent clinical need to develop and investigate translational therapies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supramolecular fibrous hydrogel augmentation of uterosacral ligament suspension for treatment of pelvic organ prolapse

Miller

Wolfe

Gentry

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Uterosacral ligament suspension (USLS) is a common surgical treatment for pelvic organ prolapse (POP). However, the relatively high failure rate of up to 40% underscores a strong clinical need for complementary treatment strategies, such as biomaterial augmentation. Herein, we describe the first hydrogel biomaterial augmentation of USLS in a recently established rat model using an injectable fibrous hydrogel composite. Supramolecularly-assembled hyaluronic acid (HA) hydrogel nanofibers encapsulated in a matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-degradable HA hydrogel create an injectable scaffold showing excellent biocompatibility and hemocompatibility. The hydrogel can be successfully delivered and localized to the suture sites of the USLS procedure, where it gradually degrades over 6 weeks. In situ mechanical testing 24 weeks post-operative in the multiparous USLS rat model shows the ultimate load (load at failure) to be 1.70 ± 0.36 N for the intact uterosacral ligament (USL), 0.89 ± 0.28 N for the USLS repair, and 1.37 ± 0.31 N for the USLS + hydrogel (USLS+H) repair (n = 8). These results indicate that the hydrogel composite significantly improves load required for tissue failure compared to the standard USLS, even after the hydrogel degrades, and that this hydrogel-based approach could potentially reduce the high failure rate associated with USLS procedures.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supramolecular fibrous hydrogel augmentation of uterosacral ligament suspension for treatment of pelvic organ prolapse

Miller

Wolfe

Gentry

et al. 2023

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…To address the substantial gaps in medical knowledge, researchers have leveraged tissue engineering approaches to transform our understanding of ovarian follicle development, [13,14] endometriosis, [15] gynecological cancers, [16] and other disorders of the endometrium. [17] In addition, special journal issues focusing on engineering for women's health [18][19][20] and in-depth review articles [21,22] have increased visibility for this body of work. However, improving the quality of women's health research cannot be done without increasing government funding for female-specific disorders or developing research methods that are specifically designed for women.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supramolecular Fibrous Hydrogel Augmentation of Uterosacral Ligament Suspension for Treatment of Pelvic Organ Prolapse

Miller

Wolfe

Gentry

et al. 2023

Adv Healthcare Materials

Self Cite

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Uterosacral ligament suspension (USLS) is a common surgical treatment for pelvic organ prolapse (POP). However, the relatively high failure rate of up to 40% underscores a strong clinical need for complementary treatment strategies, such as biomaterial augmentation. Herein, the first hydrogel biomaterial augmentation of USLS in a recently established rat model is described using an injectable fibrous hydrogel composite. Supramolecularly‐assembled hyaluronic acid (HA) hydrogel nanofibers encapsulated in a matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)‐degradable HA hydrogel create an injectable scaffold showing excellent biocompatibility and hemocompatibility. The hydrogel can be successfully delivered and localized to the suture sites of the USLS procedure, where it gradually degrades over six weeks. In situ mechanical testing 24 weeks post‐operative in the multiparous USLS rat model shows the ultimate load (load at failure) to be 1.70 ± 0.36 N for the intact uterosacral ligament (USL), 0.89 ± 0.28 N for the USLS repair, and 1.37 ± 0.31 N for the USLS + hydrogel (USLS+H) repair (n = 8). These results indicate that the hydrogel composite significantly improves load required for tissue failure compared to the standard USLS, even after the hydrogel degrades, and that this hydrogel‐based approach can potentially reduce the high failure rate associated with USLS procedures.

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“…The field of Biomaterials-including sub-fields such as drug delivery, tissue engineering (TE), biomimetic model materials, and biofabrication techniques-has seen rapid growth in applications in women's health in the last decade. Recent special journal issues [3][4][5][6] and review articles [7][8][9][10][11] have highlighted these growing applications and have all been published within the last 3 years. This demonstrates the exciting growth of a new emerging field of scientific and engineering endeavors with the potential to make dramatic basic science discoveries that translate to clinical practice in the service of improving women's health.…”

Section: Guest Editor Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Roadmap on biomaterials for women’s health

et al. 2022

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The application of engineering tools and techniques to studying women’s health, including biomaterials-based approaches, is a research field experiencing robust growth. Biomaterials are natural or synthetic materials used to repair or replace damaged tissues or organs or replicate an organ’s physiological function. However, in addition to in vivo applications, there has been substantial recent interest in biomaterials for in vitro systems. Such artificial tissues and organs are employed in drug discovery, functional cell biological investigations, and basic research that would be ethically impossible to conduct in living women. This Roadmap is a collection of eleven sections written by leading and up-and-coming experts in this field who review and discuss four aspects of biomaterials for women’s health. These include conditions that disproportionately but not exclusively affect women (e.g., breast cancer), conditions unique to female reproductive organs, in both non-pregnant and pregnant states, and sex differences in non-reproductive tissues (e.g., the cardiovascular system). There is a strong need to develop this exciting field, with the potential to materially influence women’s lives worldwide.

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Special Issue on the Advances in Engineering for Women’s Health

Cited by 5 publications

References 21 publications

Supramolecular fibrous hydrogel augmentation of uterosacral ligament suspension for treatment of pelvic organ prolapse

Supramolecular fibrous hydrogel augmentation of uterosacral ligament suspension for treatment of pelvic organ prolapse

Supramolecular Fibrous Hydrogel Augmentation of Uterosacral Ligament Suspension for Treatment of Pelvic Organ Prolapse

Roadmap on biomaterials for women’s health

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