Scaffolds for Cartilage Tissue Engineering from a Blend of Polyethersulfone and Polyurethane Polymers.

In recent years, one of the main goals of cartilage tissue engineering has been to find appropriate scaffolds for hyaline cartilage regeneration, which could serve as a matrix for chondrocytes or stem cell cultures. The study presents three types of scaffolds obtained from a blend of polyethersulfone (PES) and polyurethane (PUR) by a combination of wet-phase inversion and salt-leaching methods. The nonwovens made of gelatin and sodium chloride (NaCl) were used as precursors of macropores. Thus, obtained membranes were characterized by a suitable structure. The top layers were perforated, with pores over 20 µm, which allows cells to enter the membrane. The use of a nonwoven made it possible to develop a three-dimensional network of interconnected macropores that is required for cell activity and mobility. Examination of wettability (contact angle, swelling ratio) showed a hydrophilic nature of scaffolds. The mechanical test showed that the scaffolds were suitable for knee joint applications (stress above 10 MPa). Next, the scaffolds underwent a degradation study in simulated body fluid (SBF). Weight loss after four weeks and changes in structure were assessed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and MeMoExplorer Software, a program that estimates the size of pores. The porosity measurements after degradation confirmed an increase in pore size, as expected. Hydrolysis was confirmed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analysis, where the disappearance of ester bonds at about 1730 cm-1 wavelength is noticeable after degradation. The obtained results showed that the scaffolds meet the requirements for cartilage tissue engineering membranes and should undergo further testing on an animal model.

Insights into the biodegradation and heavy metal resistance potential of the genus Brevibacillus through comparative genome analyses.

Members of the genus Brevibacillus belonging to the familyPaenibacillaceae are Gram-positive/variable, endospore-forming, and rod-shaped bacteria that dwell in various environmental habitats. Brevibacillus spp. have a wide range of enzyme activities such as degradation of various carbohydrates, plastics, and they possess resistance against heavy metals. These characteristics make them encouraging contenders for biotechnological applications.In this work, we analyzed the reference genomes of 19Brevibacillusspecies, focusing on discovering the biodegradation and heavy metal resistance capabilities of this little studied genus from genomic data. The results indicate that several strain specific traits were identified. For example Brevibacillus halotolerans s-14, and Brevibacillus laterosporus DSM 25 have more glycoside hydrolases (GHs) compared to other carbohydrate-active enzymes, and therefore might be more suitable for biodegradation of carbohydrates. In contrast, strains such as Brevibacillus antibioticus TGS2-1, with a higher number of glycosyltransfereases (GTs) may aid in the biosynthesis of complex carbohydrates. Our results also suggest some correlation between heavy metal resistance and polyurethane degradation, thus indicating that heavy metal resistance strains (e.g. Brevibacillus reuszeri J31TS6) can be a promising source of enzymes for polyurethane degradation. These strain specific features make the members of this bacterial group potential candidates for further investigations with industrial implications. This work also represents the first exhaustive study of Brevibacillus at the genome scale.

Plastics degradation by hydrolytic enzymes: The plastics-active enzymes database-PAZy.

Petroleum-based plastics are durable and accumulate in all ecological niches. Knowledge on enzymatic degradation is sparse. Today, less than 50 verified plastics-active enzymes are known. First examples of enzymes acting on the polymers polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyurethane (PUR) have been reported together with a detailed biochemical and structural description. Furthermore, very few polyamide (PA) oligomer active enzymes are known. In this article, the current known enzymes acting on the synthetic polymers PET and PUR are briefly summarized, their published activity data were collected and integrated into a comprehensive open access database. The Plastics-Active Enzymes Database (PAZy) represents an inventory of known and experimentally verified enzymes that act on synthetic fossil fuel-based polymers. Almost 3000 homologs of PET-active enzymes were identified by profile hidden Markov models. Over 2000 homologs of PUR-active enzymes were identified by BLAST. Based on multiple sequence alignments, conservation analysis identified the most conserved amino acids, and sequence motifs for PET- and PUR-active enzymes were derived.

Utilization of fish meal and fish oil for production of Cryptococcus sp. MTCC 5455 lipase and hydrolysis of polyurethane thereof.

Fish meal has been used as an additional nitrogen source and fish oil as inducer for the growth and production of lipase from Cryptococcus sp. MTCC 5455. A response surface design illustrated that the optimum factors influencing lipase production were fish meal, 1.5 %, w/v, Na2HPO4, 0.2 %, w/v, yeast extract, 0.25 %, w/v and sardine oil, 2.0 %, w/v with an activity of 71.23 U/mL at 96 h and 25 °C, which was 48.39 % higher than the conventional one-factor-at-a-time method. The crude concentrated enzyme hydrolyzed polyurethane (PUR) efficiently and hydrolysis was 94 % at 30 °C and 96 h. The products, diethylene glycol and adipic acid were quantified by HPLC and scanning electron microscopic studies of the degraded polymer showed significant increase in size of the holes from 24 to 72 h of incubation. Hydrolysis of PUR within 96 h makes the lipase novel for disposal of PUR and provides an innovative solution to the problems created by plastic wastes.