12 documents found, page 1 of 2
3D tubular constructs based on natural polysaccharides and recombinant polypept...
Rodrigues, Luísa Cidália Guimarães; Gomes, J. M.; Soares da Costa, Diana; Fernandes, Emanuel Mouta; Costa, R. R.; Rodríguez-Cabello, J. C.; Silva, S. S.The development of versatile tubular structures is critical for tissue engineering (TE) applications where vascularization is necessary. This study investigates the fabrication of tubular shaped biomaterials focused on chitosan (CHT) combined with alginate (ALG) and acemannan (ACE), known for their synergistic properties, including physical stability, antibacterial activity, and healing promotion. Translating t...
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...
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...
COX-2 inhibitor delivery system aiming intestinal inflammatory disorders
Oliveira, Ana Isabel; Rodrigues, Luísa Cidália Guimarães; Soares da Costa, Diana; Fernandes, E. M.; Reis, R. L.; Neves, N. M.; Leão, P.; Martins, AlbinoSelective COX-2 inhibitors such as etoricoxib (ETX) are potentially indicated for the treatment of intestinal inflammatory disorders. However, their systemic administration provokes some off-site secondary effects, decreasing the desirable local effectiveness. To circumvent such limitations, herein an ETX delivery system based on electrospun fibrous meshes (eFMs) was proposed. ETX at different concentrations (1...
Chitosan/virgin-coconut-oil-based system enriched with cubosomes: a 3D drug-del...
Silva, SS; Rodrigues, Luísa Cidália Guimarães; Fernandes, Emanuel Mouta; Soares da Costa, Diana; Villalva, Denise G.; Loh, Watson; Reis, R. L.Emulsion-based systems that combine natural polymers with vegetable oils have been identified as a promising research avenue for developing structures with potential for biomedical applications. Herein, chitosan (CHT), a natural polymer, and virgin coconut oil (VCO), a resource obtained from coconut kernels, were combined to create an emulsion system. Phytantriol-based cubosomes encapsulating sodium diclofenac,...
Fucoidan-coated silica nanoparticles promote the differentiation of human mesen...
Amorim, Sara; Dudik, Olesia; Soares da Costa, Diana; Reis, R. L.; Silva, Tiago H.; Pires, R. A.Silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) are widely used in biomedical applications, such as cancer therapy/diagnosis or tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Herein, we synthesized SiNPs and modified them with sulfonic acid groups (by organosilylation followed by oxidation) or a sulfated polysaccharide (i.e., fucoidan, a seaweed biopolymer, by using electrostatic surface immobilization) due to the known capacity o...
Microfluidic-assisted interfacial complexation of extracellular matrix componen...
Costa, R. R.; Caballero, David; Soares da Costa, Diana; Rodriguez-Trujillo, R.; Kundu, Subhas C; Reis, R. L.; Pashkuleva, I.Anisotropy is an important cue for neural organization during morphogenesis and healing, contributing to the mechanical and functional properties of neural tissues. The ability to replicate such anisotropy in vitro holds great promise for the development of effective regeneration strategies. In this work, interfacial polyelectrolyte complexation (IPC) is applied to fabricate microfibers from charged ECM compone...
Layer-by-layer coated calcium carbonate nanoparticles for targeting breast canc...
Bastos, F. R.; Soares da Costa, Diana; Reis, R. L.; Alves, N. M.; Pashkuleva, I.; Costa, Rui Filipe RamosBreast cancer is resistant to conventional treatments due to the specific tumour microenvironment, the associated acidic pH and the overexpression of receptors that enhance cells tumorigenicity. Herein, we optimized the synthesis of acidic resorbable calcium carbonate (CaCO3) nanoparticles and the encapsulation of a low molecular weight model molecule (Rhodamine). The addition of ethylene glycol during the synt...
Hyaluronan functionalized pH-responsive calcium carbonate nanoparticles for loc...
Bastos, F. R.; Costa, R. R.; Soares da Costa, Diana; Reis, R. L.; Pashkuleva, I.; Alves, N. M.[Excerpt] Introduction: Current radio- and chemotherapies are not efficient and many tumors remain resistant to conventional cancer treatments. Specific properties and signaling molecules from tumor microenvironment (TME) have been explored to increase treatment efficacy. An example is the acidic pH of the TME that has been explored to develop stimuli responsive release systems. Herein, we obtained biocompatibl...
Building fucoidan/agarose-based hydrogels as a platform for the development of ...
Reys, Lara Priscila Lopes; Silva, SS; Soares da Costa, Diana; Rodrigues, Luísa Cidália Guimarães; Reis, R. L.; Silva, Tiago H.Current management for diabetes has stimulated the development of versatile 3D-based hydrogels as in vitro platforms for insulin release and as support for the encapsulation of pancreatic cells and islets of Langerhans. This work aimed to create agarose/fucoidan hydrogels to encapsulate pancreatic cells as a potential biomaterial for diabetes therapeutics. The hydrogels were produced by combining fucoidan (Fu) ...