• Proceedings of the Polymer Society of Korea Conference
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• 2006.10a
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• pp.46-47
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• 2006

Vascularization is essential for success in regenerative medicine. We have developed in vitro models to study how human microvascular endothelial cells (EC) and endothelial progenitor cells (EPC) colonize polymer scaffolds and express the endothelial phenotype, including angiogenesis. Examples are given of supportive growth and differeniation of EC on microfibre meshes of the silk protein fibroin and blends of starch with poly(epsilon-caprolactone), phenotypic markers being studied at both protein and mRNA level. Experimental models are also shown and concepts discussed to investigate how the stem cell niche, including that responsible for vascularization could be targeted, for example, by using engineered biodegradable polymer nanoparticles.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.357-363
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• 2012

Surface-modified poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) films and scaffolds were treated with plasma discharge in oxygen gas and subsequently subjected to $in$ $situ$ grafting of acrylic acid (AA) in order to increase the cell compatibility. The surface of AA-grafted PLLA was converted to hydroxyapatite (HA)-deposited PLLA in stimulated body fluid (SBF). After the samples were immersed in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), fetal bovine serum (FBS), normal saline, or cell medium, the water contact angles were significantly reduced on the surface of HA-deposited PLLA. Chondrocyte and osteoblast showed a higher attachment and cell proliferation on HA-deposited surfaces and in particular, it was confirmed that chondrocyte was considerably influenced by HA. However, osteoblast showed better cell proliferation on the surfaces immersed in FBS, cell medium or HA-deposited surface. In addition, the cell proliferation in 3D scaffolds was much higher than that on film type, irrespective of chondrocyte and osteoblast. Therefore, such surface-modified PLLAs are expected to be useful as organic-inorganic hybrid scaffolds in the regeneration of cartilage and bone.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.38 no.7
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• pp.663-668
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• 2015

hBMSCs are multipotent cells that are useful for tissue regeneration to treat degenerative diseases and others for their differentiation ability into chondrocytes, osteoblasts, adipocytes, hepatocytes and neuronal cells. In this study, biodegradable elastic hydrogels consisting of hydrophilic poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and hydrophobic poly(${\varepsilon}$-caprolactone) (PCL) scaffolds were evaluated for tissue engineering because of its biocompatibility and the ability to control the release of bioactive peptides. The primary cultured cells from human bone marrow are confirmed as hBMSC by immunohistochemical analysis. Mesenchymal stem cell markers (collagen type I, fibronectin, CD54, $integrin1{\beta}$, and Hu protein) were shown to be positive, while hematopoietic stem cell markers (CD14 and CD45) were shown to be negative. Three different hydrogel scaffolds with different block compositions (PEG:PCL=6:14 and 14:6 by weight) were fabricated using the salt leaching method. The hBMSCs were expanded, seeded on the scaffolds, and cultured up to 8 days under static conditions in Iscove's Modified Dulbecco's Media (IMDM). The growth of MSCs cultured on the hydrogel with PEG/PCL= 6/14 was faster than that of the others. In addition, the morphology of MSCs seemed to be normal and no cytotoxicity was found. The coating of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) containing scaffold with Matrigel slowed down the release of VEGF in vitro and promoted the angiogenesis when transplanted into BALB/c nude mice. These results suggest that hBMSCs can be supported by a biode gradable hydrogel scaffold for effective cell growth, and enhance the angiogenesis by Matrigel coating.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.14-21
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• 2006

Tissue engineering techniques require the use of a porous biodegradable/bioresorbable scaffold, which server as a three-dimensional template for initial cell attachment and subsequent tissue formation in both in vitro and in vivo. Small intestinal submucosa (SIS) has been investigated as a source of collagenous tissue with the potential to be used as biomaterials because of its inherent strength and biocompatibility. SIS-loaded poly(L-lactide-co-glicolide)(PLGA) scaffolds were prepared by solvent casting/particle leaching. Characterizations of SIS/PLGA scaffold were carried out by SEM, mercury porosimeter, and so on. Muscle-derived stem cells can be differentiated in culture into osteoblasts, chondrocytes, and even myoblasts by the controlling the culture environment. Cellular viability and proliferation were assayed by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazole-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium-bromide(MTT) test. Osteogenic differential cells were analyzed by alkaline phosphatase(ALP) activity. SIS/PLGA scaffolds were implanted into the back of athymic nude mouse to observe the effect of SIS on the osteoinduction compared with controlled PLGA scaffolds. Thin sections were cut from paraffin embedded tissues and histological sections were conducted hematoxylin and eosin (H&E), Trichrome, and von Kossa. We observed that bone formatioin of SIS/PLGA hybrid scaffold as natural/synthetic scaffold was better thean that of only PLGA scaffold. It canb be explained that SIS contains various kinds of bioactive molecules for osteoinduction.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.378-384
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• 2011

Silk fibroin is a biocompatible and slowly biodegradable natural polymer. This natural polymer has excellent mechanical properties, non-toxicity, and non-immunogenic properties and has been demonstrated to support tissue regeneration. Also, gelatin is a natural material derived from collagen by hydrolysis and has an almost identical composition as that of collagen. Silk fibroin/gelatin scaffolds have been fabricated by using the freeze-drying method. To establish the scaffold manufacturing condition for silk fibroin and gelatin, we made scaffolds with various compositions of gelatin, glutaldehyde and silk fibroin. The silk fibroin/gelatin scaffolds were characterized using SEM, DSC, and water absorption ability tests. The cellular proliferation was evaluated by WST assay. These results suggested that a scaffold containing 8% of gelatin, 1% of glutaldehyde and 0.3 g of silk fibroin provided suitable characterstics for cell adhesion and proliferation. In conclusion, the silk fibroin/gelatin scaffold may serve as a potential cell delivery vehicle and a structural basis for tissue engineering.

• Food Engineering Progress
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.233-241
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• 2017

Scaffolds of cell substrates are biophysical platforms for cell attachment, proliferation, and differentiation. They ultimately play a leading-edge role in the regeneration of tissues. Recent studies have shown the potential of bioactive scaffolds (i.e., osteo-inductive) through 3D printing. In this study, rice bran-derived biocomposite was fabricated for fused deposition modeling (FDM)-based 3D printing as a potential bone-graft analogue. Rice bran by-product was blended with poly caprolactone (PCL), a synthetic commercial biodegradable polymer. An extruder with extrusion process molding was adopted to manufacture the newly blended "green material." Processing conditions affected the performance of these blends. Bio-filament composite was characterized using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Mechanical characterization of bio-filament composite was carried out to determine stress-strain and compressive strength. Biological behaviors of bio-filament composites were also investigated by assessing cell cytotoxicity and water contact angle. EDX results of bio-filament composites indicated the presence of organic compounds. These bio-filament composites were found to have higher tensile strength than conventional PCL filament. They exhibited positive response in cytotoxicity. Biological analysis revealed better compatibility of r-PCL with rice bran. Such rice bran blended bio-filament composite was found to have higher elongation and strength compared to control PCL.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.207-223
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• 2003

For last five years, we are developing the novel local drug delivery devices using biodegradable polymers, especially polylactide (PLA) and poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) due to its relatively good biocompatibility, easily controlled biodegradability, good processability and only FDA approved synthetic degradable polymers. The relationship between various kinds of drug [water soluble small molecule drugs: gentamicin sulfate (GS), fentanyl citrate (FC), BCNU, azidothymidine (AZT), pamidronate (ADP), $1,25(OH)_2$ vitamin $D_3$, water insoluble small molecule drugs: fentanyl, ipriflavone (IP) and nifedipine, and water soluble large peptide molecule drug: nerve growth factor (NGF), and Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV)], different types of geometrical devices [microspheres (MSs), microcapsule, nanoparticle, wafers, pellet, beads, multiple-layered beads, implants, fiber, scaffolds, and films], and pharmacological activity are proposed and discussed for the application of pharmaceutics and tissue engineering. Also, local drug delivery devices proposed in this work are introduced in view of preparation method, drug release behavior, biocompatibility, pharmacological effect, and animal studies. In conclusion, we can control the drug release profiles varying with the preparation, formulation and geometrical parameters. Moreover, any types of drug were successfully applicable to achieve linear sustained release from short period ($1{\sim}3$ days) to long period (over 2 months). It is very important to design a suitable formulation for the wanting period of bioactive molecules loaded in biodegradable polymers for the local delivery of drug. The drug release is affected by many factors such as hydrophilicity of drug, electric charge of drug, drug loading amount, polymer molecular weight, the monomer composition, the size of implants, the applied fabrication techniques, and so on. It is well known that the commercialization of new drug needs a lot of cost of money (average: over 10 million US dollar per one drug) and time (average: above 9 years) whereas the development of DDS and high effective generic drug might be need relatively low investment with a short time period. Also, one core technology of DDS can be applicable to many drugs for the market needs. From these reasons, the DDS research on potent generic drugs might be suitable for less risk and high return.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.163-168
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• 2008

Biomedical scaffold for tissue regeneration was fabricated by one of rapid prototyping processes, bioplotting system, with a biodegradable and biocompatible poly($\varepsilon$-carprolactone)(PCL). Through dynamic mechanical test, it was observed that the PCL scaffold manufactured by the bioplotting process has the superior mechanical properties compared to the conventional scaffold fabricated by a salt-leaching process, and the plotted scaffold could be employed as a potential scaffold to regenerating hard and soft tissue. The plotted scaffold was consisted of porous structures. which were interconnected with each pore to help cells be easily adhered and proliferated in the wall of pore tunnels, and metabolic nutrients can be transported within the matrix. By using the plotting system, we could adjust the pore size, porosity, strand pitch, and, strand diameter of PCL scaffolds, which were important parameters to control mechanical properties of the scaffolds, and consequently we could determine that the mechanically controlled scaffolds could be used as a matching scaffold for any required mechanical properties of the target organ. The fabricated 3D PCL scaffold showed enough possibility as a 3D biomedical scaffold, which was cell-cultured with chondrocytes.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.282-287
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• 2005

A novel ice particle leaching method for fabrication of porous and biodegradable PLGA scaffold has been proposed for the application to tissue engineering. After uniform mixing of poly(L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) and bovine serum albumin-fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC-BSA), the FITC-BSA loaded scaffold was fabricated by adding various ratio of ice particle. The release profiles of FITC-BSA were examined using pH 7.4 PBS for 28 days at $37^{circ}$. The release amount was determined by fluorescence intensity by using the fluorescence spectrophotometer and the morphological change of the scaffolds was observed by scanning electron microscope. The release initial burst of BSA containing scaffolds was lower than that of simple dipping scaffolds resulting in constant release aspect. Although the BSA concentration increased. the initial burst was not increased. As a result of this study, it can be suggested that ice particle leaching method for the tissue engineered scaffold miff be very useful and it is possible to impregnate with water soluble factors like cytokine. We suggest that ice particle leaching method may be useful to tissue engineered organ regeneration.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.293-300
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• 2001

A polyrotaxane-biotin conjugate was synthesized and its interaction with streptavidin measured using surface plasmon resonance(SPR) detection. A biodegradable polyrotaxane in which ca, 22 molecules of ${\alpha}$-cyclodextrina(${\alpha}$-CDs) were threaded onto a poly(ethylene oxide) chain(M$\sub$n:4,000) capped with benzyloxycarbonyl-L-phenylalanine was conjugated with a biotin hydorazide and 2-aminoethanol after activing the hydroxyl groups of ${\alpha}$-CDs in the polyrotaxane using N, N'-carbonyldiimidazole. The results of the high-resolution $^1$H-nyclear lmagnetic resonance($^1$H-NMR)spectra and gel permeation chromatography of the conjugate showed that ca, 11 biotin molecules were actually introduced to the polyrotaxane scaffold. An SPR analysis showed that the binding curves of the biotin molecules in the conjugate on the streptavidin-deposited surface changed in a concentration dependent manner, indicating that the biotin in the conjugate was ac-tually recognized by streptavidin. The association equilibrium constant(K$\sub$a/) of the interaction be-tween the conjugate and steptavidin tetramer was of the order 10$\^$7/. These results suggest that polyrotaxane is useful for scaffolds as a polymeric ligand in biomedical fields.