Characterization of Gold-Enhanced Titania: Boosting Cell Proliferation and Combating Bacterial Infestation.

BACKGROUND: In this study an approach was made to efficaciously synthesize gold enhanced titania nanorods by electrospinning. This study aims to address effects of gold enhanced titania nanorods on muscle precursor cells. Additionally, implant related microbial infections are prime cause of various disastrous diseases. So, there is predictable demand for synthesis of novel materials with multifunctional adaptability. METHODS: Herein, gold nanoparticles were attached on titania nanorods and described using many sophisticated procedures such as XRD, SEM, EDX and TEM. Antimicrobial studies were probed against Gram-negative Escherichia coli. C2C12 cell lines were exposed to various doses of as-prepared gold enhanced titania nanorods in order to test in vitro cytotoxicity and proliferation. Cell sustainability was assessed through Cell Counting Kit-8 assay at regular intervals. A phase-contrast microscope was used to examine morphology of exposed C2C12 cells and confocal laser scanning microscope was used to quantify cell viability. RESULTS: The findings indicate that titania nanorods enhanced with gold exhibit superior antimicrobial efficacy compared to pure titania. Furthermore, newly synthesized gold-enhanced titania nanorods illustrate that cell viability follows a time and concentration dependent pattern. CONCLUSION: Consequently, our study provides optimistic findings indicating that titania nanorods adorned with gold hold significant potential as foundational resource for developing forthcoming antimicrobial materials, suitable for applications both in medical and biomedical fields. This work also demonstrates that in addition to being extremely biocompatible, titania nanorods with gold embellishments may be used in a range of tissue engineering applications in very near future.

Imaging, spectroscopy, mechanical, alignment and biocompatibility studies of electrospun medical grade polyurethane (Carbothane™ 3575A) nanofibers and composite nanofibers containing multiwalled carbon nanotubes.

In the present study, we discuss the electrospinning of medical grade polyurethane (Carbothane™ 3575A) nanofibers containing multi-walled-carbon-nanotubes (MWCNTs). A simple method that does not depend on additional foreign chemicals has been employed to disperse MWCNTs through high intensity sonication. Typically, a polymer solution consisting of polymer/MWCNTs has been electrospun to form nanofibers. Physiochemical aspects of prepared nanofibers were evaluated by SEM, TEM, FT-IR and Raman spectroscopy, confirming nanofibers containing MWCNTs. The biocompatibility and cell attachment of the produced nanofiber mats were investigated while culturing them in the presence of NIH 3T3 fibroblasts. The results from these tests indicated non-toxic behavior of the prepared nanofiber mats and had a significant attachment of cells towards nanofibers. The incorporation of MWCNTs into polymeric nanofibers led to an improvement in tensile stress from 11.40 ± 0.9 to 51.25 ± 5.5 MPa. Furthermore, complete alignment of the nanofibers resulted in an enhancement on tensile stress to 72.78 ± 5.5 MPa. Displaying these attributes of high mechanical properties and non-toxic nature of nanofibers are recommended for an ideal candidate for future tendon and ligament grafts.

One-step facile construction of high aspect ratio Fe3O4 decorated CNFs with distinctive porous morphology: potential multiuse expectations.

The objective of our study was to develop a new class of Fe3O4 nanocrystals decorated CNFs with characteristic porous morphology by straightforward approach. The utilized CNFs-Fe3O4 hybrid was prepared by sol-gel electrospinning employing polyacrylonitrile and iron (III) nitrate nonahydrate as precursors. Scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction techniques were employed to characterize novel CNFs-Fe3O4 composite. Nanofibers are having porous morphology, diameter size in the range of ~260±20 nm. In order to demonstrate the broad applicability of CNFs-Fe3O4 scaffold, we performed different analysis. The antibacterial activity was tested using Escherichia coli as model organism. With NIH 3T3 mouse fibroblasts, cytotoxicity of prepared high aspect ratio CNFs-Fe3O4 composite was evaluated by thiazoyl blue tetrazolium-bromide (MTT) assay, and fibroblast cell growth behavior with electrospun porous scaffolds was also examined. Interestingly, the prepared nanofibers exhibited enhanced bactericidal performance (minimum inhibition concentrations (MIC) from 5 µg/mL to 80 µg/mL) and CNFs-Fe3O4 composite as scaffolds indicated favorable enhancement in cell proliferation. Results from this study suggest that CNFs-Fe3O4 scaffold with small diameters coincidence with unique porous configuration can mimic the natural extracellular matrix (ECM) well and provide potential promises for applications in the fields of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Our findings clearly suggest wide application potentials of this (CNFs-Fe3O4) multifunctional composite and the nanofiberous mat can be a very good candidate as a filter for water purification, antibiofouling filtration and ECM for tissue engineering.

Morphological and electrochemical properties of crystalline praseodymium oxide nanorods.

Highly crystalline Pr6O11 nanorods were prepared by a simple precipitation method of triethylamine complex at 500°C. Synthesized Pr6O11 nanorods were uniformly grown with the diameter of 12-15 nm and the length of 100-150 nm without any impurities of unstable PrO2 phase. The Pr6O11 nanorod electrodes attained a high electrical conductivity of 0.954 Scm-1 with low activation energy of 0.594 eV at 850°C. The electrochemical impedance study showed that the resistance of electrode was significantly decreased at high temperature, which resulted from its high conductivity and low activation energy. The reduced impedance and high electrical conductivity of Pr6O11 nanorod electrodes are attributed to the reduction of grain boundaries and high space charge width.