On the effect of pepsin incubation on type I collagen from horse tendon: Fine tuning of its physico-chemical and rheological properties.

Type I collagen is commonly recognized as the gold standard biomaterial for the manufacturing of medical devices for health-care related applications. In recent years, with the final aim of developing scaffolds with optimal bioactivity, even more studies focused on the influence of processing parameters on collagen properties, since processing can strongly affect the architecture of collagen at various length scales and, consequently, scaffolds macroscopic performances. The ability to finely tune scaffold properties in order to closely mimic the tissues' hierarchical features, preserving collagen's natural conformation, is actually of great interest. In this work, the effect of the pepsin-based extraction step on the material final properties was investigated. Thus, the physico-chemical properties of fibrillar type I collagens upon being extracted under various conditions were analyzed in depth. Correlations of collagen structure at the supramolecular scale with its microstructural properties were done, confirming the possibility of tuning rheological, viscoelastic and degradation properties of fibrillar type I collagen.

Hydrophobic, Mechanical, and Physical Properties of Polyurethane Nanocomposite: Synergistic Impact of Mg(OH)2 and SiO2.

Polyurethane (PU) is one of the most well-known polymer coatings because of its favorable characteristics, which include its low density, nontoxicity, nonflammability, longevity, adhesion, simple manufacture, flexibility, and hardness. However, PU does come with several major drawbacks, among which are poor mechanical properties as well as low thermal and chemical stability, particularly in the high-temperature mode, where becomes gets flammable and loses adhesion ability. The limitations have inspired researchers to develop a PU composite to improve the weaknesses by adding different reinforcements. Magnesium hydroxide, having the ability to be produced with exceptional properties such as flammability, has consistently attracted the interest of researchers. Additionally, silica nanoparticles with high strength and hardness are one of the excellent reinforcements of polymers these days. The hydrophobic, physical, and mechanical properties of pure polyurethane and the composite type (nano, micro, and hybrid) fabricated with the drop casting method were examined in this study. 3-Aminopropyl triethoxysilane was applied as a functionalized agent. To confirm that hydrophilic particles turned into hydrophobic, FTIR analysis was carried out. The impact of size, percentage, and kind of fillers on different properties of PU/Mg(OH)2-SiO2 was then investigated using different analyses including spectroscopy and mechanical and hydrophobicity tests. The resultant observations demonstrated that different surface topographies can be obtained from the presence of particles of different sizes and percentages on the hybrid composite's surface. Surface roughness allowed for exceptionally high water contact angles, which confirmed the hybrid polymer coatings' superhydrophobic properties. According to the particle size and content, the distribution of fillers in the matrix also improved the mechanical properties.

Novel Synthesis of Nano Mg(OH)2 by Means of Hydrothermal Method with Different Surfactants.

Magnesium hydroxide (MOH) is a widely used inorganic chemical owing to its various properties. Hence, researchers have long studied its synthesis and its unique features. However, the morphological consequences have rarely been studied. Despite having several benefits for synthesizing nanoparticles, the hydrothermal method's main drawbacks are its lengthy processing time and the high cost of raw materials. This research aimed to use more easily obtainable raw materials in a reasonably short time to synthesize MOH in various morphologies. For this purpose, we prepared different samples using the same hydrothermal method to investigate the effects of the precursor and surfactant on the structure, morphology, and size of MOH particles. The results of XRD and FTIR analysis demonstrated that a temperature of 180 °C and a duration of 18 h is not sufficient for MgO as a precursor to obtaining MOH in the hydrothermal method. However, in the presence of different surfactants, MgCl2 resulted in nanoparticles with hexagonal structure and plate, flake, spherical, and disc morphologies.

Collagen Derived from Fish Industry Waste: Progresses and Challenges.

Fish collagen garnered significant academic and commercial focus in the last decades featuring prospective applications in a variety of health-related industries, including food, medicine, pharmaceutics, and cosmetics. Due to its distinct advantages over mammalian-based collagen, including the reduced zoonosis transmission risk, the absence of cultural-religious limitations, the cost-effectiveness of manufacturing process, and its superior bioavailability, the use of collagen derived from fish wastes (i.e., skin, scales) quickly expanded. Moreover, by-products are low cost and the need to minimize fish industry waste's environmental impact paved the way for the use of discards in the development of collagen-based products with remarkable added value. This review summarizes the recent advances in the valorization of fish industry wastes for the extraction of collagen used in several applications. Issues related to processing and characterization of collagen were presented. Moreover, an overview of the most relevant applications in food industry, nutraceutical, cosmetics, tissue engineering, and food packaging of the last three years was introduced. Lastly, the fish-collagen market and the open technological challenges to a reliable recovery and exploitation of this biopolymer were discussed.