Dec 20 2010
Three-dimensional frameworks where cells can settle and grow tissues and organs are desired in the regenerative medicine. Material scientists of the University Würzburg have now developed new scaffolds with very special characteristics.
The requirements for these structures made of polymer fibres are high: as they are implanted in the human body they need to be fully degradable – not too fast but not to slow either. Also, only specific cells are supposed to settle, connect and grow. Other substances, such as proteins and cells from the blood need to be kept away.Researchers of the University of Würzburg have now presented a promising new technique to the public.
Extremely thin fibres grow in electric field
The production of extremely thin polymer fibres has been possible before but the researchers from Marburg have now developed a technique that enables the fabrication of these fibres in a single step.
Using the traditional technique, the so-called electrospinning, an electric field is applied to a liquid is that creates thin “jets”. The formed fibres are extremely thin (up to ten nanometres).
The researchers from Marburg have moved this technique a huge step forward. They developed a specific macromolecule, which – once put in the liquid – changes its surface drastically. This molecule changes the hydrophobic fibres into hydrophilic fibres. This conversion prevents the agglomeration of unwanted proteins onto the fibre surfaces, which is an unwanted effect in the medicine as it activates the immune system and disrupts the wound healing.
Scaffold for body’s own cells
On the other hand, several attachments are highly wanted: The body’s own cells are desired to attach to the fibre structures in order to connect to each other and form a compact matrix. This helps the body to close extensive injuries.
In the laboratory, scientists even work on methods that might enable the production of new tissues or even organs with the aid of the fibres. For this, they form three-dimensional structures in the required shape, where afterwards the desired cells, for example hepatocytes can settle.The advantages of these implants are obvious: As the organ can develop from the cells obtained directly from the patient himself, the body won’t reject the graft. An additional medical therapy is therefore not necessary anymore and the fibres degrade after a few months. The newly developed technique allows a production of the fibres with a wide variety of characteristics in a much faster time. In the future, this might even allow the development of structures where complex tissues can grow.
Source: http://www.kompetenznetze.de/