106 documents found, page 1 of 11
Development and in vitro assessment of injectable, adhesive, and self-healing c...
Correia, Cátia Sofia Palma; Peixoto, D.; Soares da Costa, Diana; Reis, R. L.; Pashkuleva, I.; Alves, N. M.Injured spinal cords have a limited ability to regenerate because of the inhibitory environment formed in situ that affects neuronal regrow. Ensuring stable contact between the injuried nerves to support neural regeneration in the lesion microenvironment remains a significant challenge. To address this challenge, we have engineered a new injectable and adhesive hydrogel to treat spinal cord injuries. This hydro...
Patterned glycopeptide-based supramolecular hydrogel promotes the alignment and...
Castro, Vânia Isabel Baptista; Amorim, Sara; Caballero, David; Abreu, Catarina M.; Kundu, Subhas C; Reis, R. L.; Pashkuleva, I.; Pires, R. A.The functional restoration of a damaged cardiac tissue relies on a synchronized contractile capacity of exogenous and/or endogenous cardiomyocytes, which is challenging to achieve. Here, we explored the potential of the short glycopeptide diphenylalanine glucosamine-6-sulfate (FFGlcN6S) conjugated with an aromatic moiety, namely fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl (Fmoc), to enhance cardiac tissue regeneration. At physiol...
Effect of hyaluronan molecular weight on the stability and biofunctionality of ...
Albuquerque, A. V.; Soares da Costa, D.; Correia, Cátia Sofia Palma; Reis, R. L.; Alves, N. M.; Costa, Rui Filipe Ramos; Pashkuleva, I.Nervous system disorders are characterized by a progressive loss of function and structure of neurons that ultimately leads to a decline in cognitive and motor functions. In this study, we used interfacial polyelectrolyte complexation (IPC) to produce fibers for neural tissue regeneration. IPC is a processing method that allows spinning of sensitive biopolymers. The rate of spinning and the properties of the us...
Nanoengineered self-assembling peptides with increased proteolytic stability pr...
Castro, Vânia Isabel Baptista; Araújo, Ana Rita Rodrigues; Reis, R. L.; Pashkuleva, I.; Pires, R. A.The copper complex of the tripeptide glycineâ histidineâ lysine (GHK) has proven benefits in wound healing and tissue remodeling by promoting blood vessel growth and increasing skin oxygen levels, but its activity is reduced in body fluids due to fast proteolytic cleavage. Herein, we designed several peptides that bear the GHK sequence and can self-assemble into supramolecular nanostructures aiming for enhanced...
Ceragenin nanogel coating prevents biofilms formation on urinary catheters
Puertas-Segura, Antonio; Laganá, Antonio; Rathee, Garima; Savage, Paul; Todorova, Katerina; Dimitrov, Petar; Pashkuleva, I.; Reis, R. L.Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) account for 40% of hospital-acquired infections, increasing health risks, patient discomfort, morbidity, and hospitalisation time. Bacterial colonisation may occur both during catheter insertion and prolonged catheterization by microorganisms in the urinary tract, consequently, increasing the bacteriuria risk due to biofilm formation. Nanogels, a class of so...
Cooling rate uncovers epimer-dependent supramolecular organization of carbohydr...
Castro, Vânia I. B.; Gao, Yuting; Brito, Alexandra; Chen, Jie; Reis, R. L.; Pashkuleva, I.; Pires, R. A.We show distinct CH-pi interactions and assembly pathways for the amphiphile N-(fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl)-galactosamine and its epimer N-(fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl)-glucosamine. These differences result in the formation of supramolecular nanofibrous systems with opposite chirality. Our results showcase the importance of the carbohydrates structural diversity for their specific biointeractions and the opportunity...
Preparation, properties and bioapplications of block copolymer nanopatterns
Fontelo, R.; Reis, R. L.; Novoa-Carballal, Ramon; Pashkuleva, I.Block copolymer (BCP) self-assembly has emerged as a feasible method for large-scale fabrication with remarkable precision â features that are not common for most of the nanofabrication techniques. In this review, we present recent advancements in the molecular design of BCP along with state-of-the-art processing methodologies based on microphase separation alone or its combination with different lithography me...
Multifunctional calcium-based nanocarriers for synergistic treatment of triple-...
Martins, Sara A.; Costa, Rui R.; Brito, Alexandra; Reis, R. L.; Alves, N. M.; Pashkuleva, I.; Soares da Costa, DianaTargeted breast cancer therapies hold the potential to improve the efficiency of drug delivery to the pathology site without impacting the viability and function of healthy cells. Herein, we developed multifunctional nanocarriers that target simultaneously several downstream signaling processes in triple negative breast cancer cells. The system comprises pH sensitive CaCO3 nanoparticles (NPs) as carriers of the...
Bioadhesive hyaluronic acid-based hydrogels for spinal cord injury
Duarte, Diogo; Correia, Cátia; Reis, R. L.; Pashkuleva, I.; Peixoto, Daniela; Alves, N. M.Spinal cord injuries (SCI) have devastating physical, psychological, and psycho-social consequences for patients. One challenge of nerve tissue repair is the lack of a natural extracellular matrix (ECM) that guides the regenerating axons. Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a major ECM component and plays a fundamental role in facilitating lesion healing. Herein, we developed HA-based adhesive hydrogels by modification of ...
Antibacterial properties of photo-crosslinked chitosan/methacrylated hyaluronic...
Gonçalves, Raquel R.; Peixoto, Daniela; Costa, Rui R.; Franco, Albina Ribeiro; Castro, Vânia I. B.; Pires, R. A.; Reis, R. L.; Pashkuleva, I.The current treatments for wounds often fail to produce adequate healing, leaving wounds vulnerable to persistent infections and development of drug-resistant microbial biofilms. New natural-derived nanoparticles were studied to impair bacteria colonization and hinder the formation of biofilms in wounds. The nanoparticles were fabricated through polyelectrolyte complexation of chitosan (CS, polycation) and hyal...