Xeroprotectants for the stabilization of biomaterials

Structural and functional stabilization of protein entities: state-of-the-art

“…There are two postulated explanations commonly employed to describe the mechanism of action of chemical moieties added to the reaction medium, through which both the molecular motions and structure of protein entities are affected: (i) the "water replacement" hypothesis, and (ii) the "preferential exclusion" hypothesis [12,13,22,40,48,49,[154][155][156][157][158]. The special ability of sugar moieties to bind protectively to the surface of biological molecular structures has been ascribed to their ability also to form hydrogen bonds [158].…”

“…There are two postulated explanations commonly employed to describe the mechanism of action of chemical moieties added to the reaction medium, through which both the molecular motions and structure of protein entities are affected: (i) the "water replacement" hypothesis, and (ii) the "preferential exclusion" hypothesis [12,13,22,40,48,49,[154][155][156][157][158]. The special ability of sugar moieties to bind protectively to the surface of biological molecular structures has been ascribed to their ability also to form hydrogen bonds [158]. Since the threedimensional architecture of virtually all protein entities in solution depends on stabilization of said architecture by a shell of water molecules hydrogen-bonded to their surfaces [3], the former hypothesis aims at explaining the protective effect of certain sugars against damage promoted by freezing and desiccation [19,48,[159][160][161][162][163], predicting that the stabilization moieties added replace the water molecules that are removed from the hydration shells of the protein entities, thus stabilizing their native state; the later hypothesis states that the protective moieties are excluded from the surfaces of the protein entities and thus the available water molecules in solution can interact preferentially with the protein entity, thus stabilizing its native configuration [5,19,49,[164][165][166].…”

Preparation and characterisation of poly(hydroxyalkanoate)/Ganoderma lucidum fibre composites: mechanical and biological properties

“…Because they can come in direct or indirect contact with human organ tissues, blood, and/or skin, the stability, toxicity, biodegradability, and biocompatibility of these materials in the human body must be considered [1][2][3]. Clinical biomedical materials can be categorised according to their use in association with hard or soft tissues.…”

Microfluidics for cryopreservation

“…Cryopreservation is a science/technology for long-term storage of cells, tissues, and organs at cryogenic temperatures (usually in liquid nitrogen or liquid nitrogen vapors) and allows resumption of normal functions after retrieval from a cryobank (Kuleshova and Hutmacher, 2008). To date, cryopreservation has permitted breakthroughs in biomedical applications including assisted reproductive medicine, stem cell technologies, cell therapies, tissue engineering, development and in vitro screening of anticancer drugs, pharmacology, and basic scientific research (Benelli et al, 2013; Feng et al, 2011; Julca et al, 2012; Palasz and Mapletoft, 1996; Popova et al, 2016; Smorag and Gajda, 1994; Teixeira da Silva, 2003; Wang, B. et al, 2014; Wang et al, 2012). Trillions of cells are biopreserved globally for daily clinical use.…”