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Polymers
Special Issues
Polymers for Biomedical Modeling
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Polymers for Biomedical Modeling

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Physics and Theory".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 March 2021) | Viewed by 9738

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Federica Chiellini

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry, University of Pisa, Via Moruzzi 13, I-56124 Pisa, Italy
Interests: design, development, and applications of polymeric materials for biomedical, cosmetic, and food applications; renewable and sustainable polymers; microbial polyesters; marine polysaccharides; antimicrobial polymeric nanostructures; stimuli-responsive polymers and hydrogels; nanoparticles and nanogels; micro–nanostructured 3D polymeric scaffolds for regenerative medicine applications; 3D tumor models
Dr. Dario Puppi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry, University of Pisa, UdR INSTM-Pisa, Pisa, Italy
Interests: physical–chemical modification, processing, and characterization of polymeric materials for advanced applications; biodegradable polymers for biomedical applications; additive manufacturing of polymeric materials; multiscale polymeric scaffolds; electrospun nanofibers; microstructured hydrogels; mechanical properties of polymeric materials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Efforts on physically reproducing human anatomical sites and the complexity of biological systems have evolved from three-dimensional (3D) models for anatomical study, surgical training, and preoperative planning, to in vitro modeling for research on tissue physiology, cancer treatment, and drug screening, as well as to the development of custom-made implants. In particular, the experimental evidence that 3D culture environments result in cells’ morphological and functional characteristics that set them apart from monolayer culture has triggered research on polymeric scaffolds for biomedical modeling. A successful application field is represented by cancer cells grown in 3D which tend to form proliferative masses or aggregates not detected in monolayer cultures, resulting in different metabolic characteristics, gene expression profiles, and sensitivity to drug-induced apoptosis. In addition, recent advances on humanized tumor tissue models in animals and integrated organ-on-a-chip research are providing sophisticated tools for developing heterogeneous environments mimicking at different length scales what is observed in native tissues.

In this context, polymers designed for modeling hard (e.g., aliphatic polyesters) and soft tissues (e.g., proteins and polysaccharides) are increasingly investigated by the scientific community in combination with advanced material processing approaches (e.g., electrospinning and additive manufacturing). Polyamides and photosensitive acrylic resins for surgery simulation models, composites based on poly(ε-caprolactone) or poly(l-lactide) for bone tissue remodeling, and bioprinted hydrogels based on fibrin, gelatin or alginate for biomimicking cartilaginous or vascular environments are only a few examples among the wide range of polymeric materials that have been investigated in this field.

The aim of this Special Issue is to highlight the progress on the synthesis, chemical modification, bio-functionalization, processing and characterization of polymeric materials designed for biomedical modeling and their possible combination with cells and other biologics, to precisely recapitulate tissue anatomy, biology, and/or physiology.

Prof. Federica Chiellini
Dr. Dario Puppi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Tissue modeling
  • Aliphatic polyesters
  • Natural polymers
  • Polymeric scaffolds
  • Bioprinting
  • Additive manufacturing
  • Organ-on-a-chip
  • Humanized xenografts
  • Tissue engineering
  • Customized implants

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 4045 KiB  
Article
Stress Distributions for Hybrid Composite Endodontic Post Designs with and without a Ferrule: FEA Study
by Pietro Ausiello, Antonio Gloria, Saverio Maietta, David C. Watts and Massimo Martorelli
Polymers 2020, 12(8), 1836; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12081836 - 16 Aug 2020
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 2734
Abstract
The aim of the current work was to analyze the influence of the ferrule effect for hybrid composite endodontic post designs consisting of carbon (C) and glass (G) fiber-reinforced polyetherimide (PEI), in upper canine teeth. Starting from theoretical designs of C-G/PEI hybrid composite [...] Read more.
The aim of the current work was to analyze the influence of the ferrule effect for hybrid composite endodontic post designs consisting of carbon (C) and glass (G) fiber-reinforced polyetherimide (PEI), in upper canine teeth. Starting from theoretical designs of C-G/PEI hybrid composite posts with different Young’s moduli (Post A—57.7 GPa, Post B—31.6 GPa, Post C—graduated from 57.7 to 9.0 GPa in the coronal–apical direction) in endodontically treated anterior teeth, the influence of the ferrule effect was determined through finite element analysis (FEA). On the surface of the crown, a load of 50 N was applied at 45° to the longitudinal axis of the tooth. Maximum principal stresses were evaluated along the C-G/PEI post as well as at the interface between the surrounding tooth structure and the post. Maximum stress values were lower than those obtained for the corresponding models without a ferrule. The presence of a ferrule led to a marked decrease of stress and gradients especially for posts A and B. A less marked effect was globally found for Post C, except in a cervical margin section along a specific direction, where a significant decrease of the stress was probably due to local geometric features, compared to the model without a ferrule. The presence of a ferrule did not generally provide a marked benefit in the case of the graduated Post C, in comparison to other C-G/PEI posts. The outcomes suggest how such a hybrid composite post alone should be sufficient to optimize the stress distribution, dissipating stress from the coronal to the apical end. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymers for Biomedical Modeling)
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10 pages, 4661 KiB  
Article
Comparative Study on Protein-Rich Electrospun Fibers for In Vitro Applications
by Iriczalli Cruz-Maya, Alessio Varesano, Claudia Vineis and Vincenzo Guarino
Polymers 2020, 12(8), 1671; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12081671 - 27 Jul 2020
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 2693
Abstract
Electrospinning is the leading technology to fabricate fibrous scaffolds that mimic the architecture of the extracellular matrix of natural tissues. In order to improve the biological response, a consolidated trend involves the blending of synthetic polymers with natural proteins to form protein-rich fibers [...] Read more.
Electrospinning is the leading technology to fabricate fibrous scaffolds that mimic the architecture of the extracellular matrix of natural tissues. In order to improve the biological response, a consolidated trend involves the blending of synthetic polymers with natural proteins to form protein-rich fibers that include selected biochemical cues able to more actively support in vitro cell interaction. In this study, we compared protein-rich fibers fabricated via electrospinning by the blending of poly ε-caprolactone (PCL) with three different proteins, i.e., gelatin, zein, and keratin, respectively. We demonstrated that the peculiar features of the proteins used significantly influence the morphological properties, in terms of fiber size and distribution. Moreover, keratin drastically enhances the fiber hydrophilicity (water contact angle equal to 44.3° ± 3.9°) with positive effects on cell interaction, as confirmed by the higher proliferation of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSC) until 7 days. By contrast, gelatin and zein not equally contribute to the fiber wettability (water contact angles equal to 95.2° ± 1.2° and 76.3° ± 4.0°, respectively) due to morphological constraints, i.e., broader fiber diameter distribution ascribable to the non-homogeneous presence of the protein along the fibers, or chemical constrains, i.e., large amount of non-polar amino acids. According to in vitro experimental studies, which included SEM and confocal microscopy analyses and vitality assay, we concluded that keratin is the most promising protein to be combined with PCL for the fabrication of biologically instructive fibers for in vitro applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymers for Biomedical Modeling)
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15 pages, 5826 KiB  
Article
Surgical Planning of Sacral Nerve Stimulation Procedure in Presence of Sacral Anomalies by Using Personalized Polymeric Prototypes Obtained with Additive Manufacturing Techniques
by Inés Rubio-Pérez and Andrés Díaz Lantada
Polymers 2020, 12(3), 581; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12030581 - 05 Mar 2020
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3554
Abstract
Sacral nerve stimulation or sacral neuromodulation involves the implantation of a stimulating electrode lead through the sacral foramina. In patients with anatomical sacral anomalies, it can constitute a challenging procedure due to a lack of common reference points present in the normal anatomy. [...] Read more.
Sacral nerve stimulation or sacral neuromodulation involves the implantation of a stimulating electrode lead through the sacral foramina. In patients with anatomical sacral anomalies, it can constitute a challenging procedure due to a lack of common reference points present in the normal anatomy. In this study, we present an innovative application of additive manufacturing for the planning of sacral nerve stimulation techniques and related surgical procedures in complex cases, and we verify that the use of personalized patient models may help to manage the presence of sacral anomalies. The use of two alternative additive manufacturing technologies working with thermoplastic and thermoset polymers, including fused deposition modeling as low-cost alternative and laser stereolithography as industrial gold standard, is compared in terms of viability, precision and overall production costs. They pay special attention to fidelity in terms of the bone microstructure reconstruction, which is necessary for adequately planning electrode insertion. Advantages and limitations of the alternative approaches are discussed and ideas for future developments and for solving current challenges are presented. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymers for Biomedical Modeling)
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