The aim of our research was to synthesize and investigate the physico-chemical and biological features of composite coatings based on poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) and commercial calcium phosphates (CaPs), hydroxyapatite and beta-tricalcium phosphate, obtained by means of matrix assisted pulsed laser evaporation (MAPLE) technique. In this respect, laser fluence and dropcast studies were performed for pristine polymer and PHBV-CaPs composites. The microstructure of the synthesized coatings was investigated by scanning electron microscopy, while for the chemical structure and functional integrity we performed Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy comparative analysis. By using the X-ray diffraction measurements we experimentally evaluated the crystalline nature of the obtained composite materials, while relevant data regarding the hydrophilic/hydrophobic behavior of the synthesized coatings were obtained by performing static CA measurements. The biocompatibility of PHBV/CaPs coatings was evaluated by performing cellular adhesion and differentiation in vitro assays on mesenchymal stem cells. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

We report the film deposition of Poly(D, L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) particle systems by matrix assisted pulsed laser evaporation (MAPLE) technique. PLGA+polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), PLGA+PVA+ bovine serum albumin (BSA) and PLGA+PVA+chitosan (CH) nanoparticles were prepared by an oil-in-water emulsion-diffusion-evaporation method. The average diameter of PLGA particles was between 180-250 nm. The coatings were obtained by laser evaporation of frozen targets prepared by mixing appropriate PLGA aqueous suspensions and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) in three ratios. Depending on the DMSO content, we deposited PLGA particles embedded into polymeric layer mainly obtained due to the entirely or partially dissolving of nanoparticles into the initial solution. In vitro results showed that the distribution and morphology of osteoblast-like SaOs-2 cells on some PLGA particle coatings were similar with that of the positive control. The purpose of this study was to develop layers of PLGA particles for local controlled drug delivery.

Embedding silver (Ag) into CaPs one could expect the enhancement of the antimicrobial performances of coatings for load bearing implants. The aim of this research was to evaluate whether the cellular morphology is influenced by the variation of Ag content, as well as by the solubility and morphological features of Ag-containing CaP coatings obtained by combinatorial pulsed laser deposition technique. In this view, we developed compositional libraries of either Ag and hydroxyapatite (HA) or Ag and beta-tricalcium phosphate (beta-TCP). The Ag content along the length of the combinatorial CaP coatings increased up to a maximum of similar to 1 at.%. SEM and AFM images evidenced the abundant presence of particulates typical for CaP coatings deposited by PLD. AFM histograms showed that the samples were rough with RMS values within 61-209 nm range. Ag content values up to 0.6 at. % into HA coatings were found nontoxic for mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) growth.

In this work, the influence of the morphology of hydroxyapatite particles on silicon substitution through hydrothermal synthesis performed under the same conditions was investigated. Spherical- and whisker-like hydroxyapatite particles were obtained starting from calcium-nitrate, sodium dihydrogen phosphate, disodium-ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid and urea (used only for the synthesis of whisker-like particles) dissolved in aqueous solutions. Silicon was introduced into the solution using tetraethylorthosilicate. X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy indicate that silicon doping induce different phase compositions and bioactivity of spherical- and whisker-like hydroxyapatite particles obtained under the same hydrothermal conditions. Silicon-substituted, spherical hydroxyapatites particles showed greater phase transformation to silicon-substituted α- calcium-phosphate compared with whiskers-like hydroxyapatite particles synthesized with the same amount of added silicon. Metabolic activity assay performed with SaOs2 osteosarcoma cells showed better biocompatibility of annealed biphasic spherical-like particles compared with annealed whiskerlike particles while dried spherical-like particles induce high cytotoxicity effect.

Aim: Assessment the role of ultrasound examination in diagnosis of fatty liver infiltration in patients with metabolic syndrome.