Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 8, Issue 4, 2008

The fields of engineering, basic sciences, and medicine are rapidly converging when it comes to biomedical engineering. It was not too long ago that biomedical engineers were almost exclusively involved with designing imaging and other medical instrumentations, mainly from an engineering perspective; today scientists in this field come from various backgrounds and have added expertise such as cell/tissue cultu Read More

Implantable medical devices are increasingly important in the practice of modern medicine. Unfortunately, almost all medical devices suffer to a different extent from adverse reactions, including inflammation, fibrosis, thrombosis and infection. To improve the safety and function of many types of medical implants, a major need exists for development of materials that evoked desired tissue responses. Because implant-ass Read More

Delivery of therapeutic agents from self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on 316L stainless steel (SS) has been demonstrated as a viable method to deliver drugs for localized coronary artery stent application. SAMs are highlyordered, nano-sized molecular coatings, adding 1-10 nm thickness to a surface. Hydroxyl terminated alkanethiol SAMs of 11-mercapto-1-undecanol (-OH SAM) were formed on 316L SS with 48 hr immersion i Read More

A vast number of manufacturing techniques have been employed in the last five years to manufacture three dimensional (3D) calcium phosphate (CaP) scaffolds, with the intention to replicate the architecture of native bone as well as to repair and restore bone function. Design features such as architectural control and sintering temperature and their impact on scaffold performance is presented in this review. In vitro cell resp Read More

Although there have been extensive research efforts to create functional tissues and organs, most successes in tissue engineering have been limited to avascular or thin tissues. The major hurdle in development of more complex tissues lies in the formation of vascular networks capable of delivering oxygen and nutrients throughout the engineered constructs. Sufficient neovascularization in scaffold materials can be achieve Read More

Gene therapy today is hampered by the need of a safe and efficient gene delivery system that can provide a sustained therapeutic effect without cytotoxicity or unwanted immune responses. Bolus gene delivery in solution results in the loss of delivered factors via lymphatic system and may cause undesired effects by the escape of bioactive molecules to distant sites. Controlled gene delivery systems, acting as localized depo Read More

Chitosan is a polysaccharide that has generated significant interest as a non-viral gene delivery vehicle due to its cationic and biocompatible characteristics. However, transfection efficiency of chitosan is significantly lower compared to other cationic gene delivery agents, e.g. polyethyleneimine (PEI), dendrimers or cationic lipids. This is primarily attributed to its minimal solubility and low buffering capacity at ph Read More

Tissue engineering approaches that combine biomaterial-based scaffolds with protein delivery systems have provided a potential strategy for improved regeneration of damaged tissue. The success of polymeric scaffolds is determined by the response it elicits from the surrounding biological environment. This response is governed, to a large extent, by the surface properties of the scaffold. Surfaces of polymeric sca Read More

Biodegradable polymeric scaffolds are widely used as a temporary extracellular matrix in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. By physical adsorption of biomolecules on scaffold surface, physical entrapment of biomolecules in polymer microspheres or hydrogels, and chemical immobilization of oligopeptides or proteins on biomaterials, biologically active biomaterials and scaffolds can be derived. These bioactive Read More

Halopemide, a phospholipase D2 inhibitor identified by high-throughput screening. In January 2007 Monovich and co-workers at Novartis identified halopemide, via a highthroughput screen, as an inhibitor of phospholipase D2 (PLD2) [1]. This was a major feat, as the PLD field suffered from a lack of ligands to probe its biological function; indeed, the gold standard PLD inhibitor is n-butanol. Phospholipase D (PLD) is present in m Read More