5 documents found, page 1 of 1
Dhvar5-chitosan nanogels and their potential to improve antibiotics activity
Costa, B; Alves, PM; Fonseca, DR; Campos, F; Monteiro, AC; Shahrour, H; Gomes, A; Costa, F; Gomes, P; Martínez-de-Tejada, G; Monteiro, C; Martins, MCLInfection is one of the main causes of orthopedic implants failure, with antibiotic-resistant bacteria playing a crucial role in this outcome. In this work, antimicrobial nanogels were developed to be applied in situ as implant coating to prevent orthopedic-device-related infections. To that regard, a broad-spectrum antimicrobial peptide, Dhvar5, was grafted onto chitosan via thiol-norbornene "photoclick" chemi...
How to manage Helicobacter pylori infection beyond antibiotics: The bioengineer...
Fonseca, DR; Chitas, R; Parreira, P; Martins, MCLThe rise in antibiotic resistance rate challenges the effective treatment of various bacterial infections. One of them is the gastric infection caused by Helicobacter pylori, a Gram-negative bacterium responsible for several gastric disorders, as peptic ulcer, and close to 90 % of all gastric cancer cases. Available treatments, combining at least 3 antibiotics, fail in up to 40 % of the patients, prompting the ...
Norbornene-chitosan nanoparticles with and without a conjugated VEGF-peptide an...
Alves, PM; Fonseca, DR; Bidarra, SJ; Gomes, A; Gomes, P; Barrias, CC; Martins, MCLImpaired angiogenesis in skin chronic wounds prolongs inflammation and compromises wound healing. Several strategies have been attempted to improve vascularization, such as application of growth factors, like the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). However, VEGF is expensive, has a short half-life in vivo and has been associated to tumorigenesis when used in high concentrations. QK peptide is a shorter (...
Targeted nanotherapeutics for the treatment of Helicobacter pylori infection
Chitas, R; Fonseca, DR; Parreira, P; Martins, MCLHelicobacter pylori infection is involved in gastric diseases such as peptic ulcer and adenocarcinoma. Approved antibiotherapies still fail in 10 to 40% of the infected patients and, in this scenario, targeted nanotherapeutics emerged as powerful allies for H. pylori eradication. Nano/microparticles conjugated with H. pylori binding molecules were developed to eliminate H. pylori by either (i) blocking essentia...
Norbornene-chitosan spray-dried microspheres for peptide conjugation using thio...
Alves, PM; Fonseca, DR; Pereira, RF; Estevinho, BN; Teixeira, C; Gome, P; Martins, MCLThe action of bioactive peptides, such as antimicrobial peptides (AMP), in the human body is often compromised by limited residence time and stability in the target site. Bioconjugation of peptides to biomaterial surfaces is one of the strategies that may overcome these limitations. Herein, norbornene-chitosan (NorChit) microspheres were engineered to react with thiolated peptides by thiolene “photoclick” chemi...