editorial the use of natural polysaccharides as biomaterials · 2019. 7. 31. · the use of natural...

EditorialThe Use of Natural Polysaccharides as Biomaterials

Paola Laurienzo,1 João C. Fernandes,2 Sylvia Colliec-Jouault,3 and J. Helen Fitton4

1 Institute for Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials, CNR, Via Campi Flegrei 34, 80078 Pozzuoli, Naples, Italy2Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Life Sciences (IBILI), Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, 3000-548 Coimbra, Portugal3French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (IFREMER), Microbial Ecosystems and Marine Molecules for the Biotechnology,BP 21105, 44311 Nantes Cedex 3, France4Marinova Pty Ltd., 249 Kennedy Drive, Cambridge, TAS 7170, Australia

Correspondence should be addressed to Paola Laurienzo; [email protected]

Received 7 April 2015; Accepted 7 April 2015

Copyright © 2015 Paola Laurienzo et al.This is an open access article distributed under theCreative CommonsAttribution License,which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

The interest towards polysaccharides of natural origin iscontinuously growing during the past decade. Fields ofinterest for their applications are widening, ranging betweenecocommodities, food supplements, cosmetics, pharmaceu-ticals, and biomedical uses. Exploitation of new sources ofpolysaccharides of different origin is well documented inrecent literature. Since this tendency is involving biomaterialsscience in a pressing way, this journal set up to publish aspecial issue devoted to this topic. The result is a collectionof twelve original research articles, whose authors belong toacademic or research institutions of eleven different countriesfrom Asia, Europe, and Australia. Papers are representativeof a large share of biomedical applications, related chemicalmodifications, and manufacturing methodologies.

From a chemical point of view, the perspective is toreplace traditional methods for production and modificationof natural polysaccharides with more ecofriendly, efficient,and targeted methodologies. N. Chopin et al. from France(“A Direct Sulfation Process of a Marine Polysaccharide inIonic Liquid”) described a new sulfation method to producehigh specificity derivatives with biological activity. On theother hand, S. Islam et al. from Australia (“Comparisonand Characterisation of Regenerated Chitosan from 1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium Chloride and Chitosan from CrabShells”) had exploited the effect of ionic liquid solvents onchemical-physical and functional properties of chitosan anddemonstrated that ionic liquid solvents represent a goodmedium for dissolution of chitosan, also useful for blendingwith other polysaccharides.

J. Varshosaz et al. from Iran (“Preparation, Optimization,and Screening of the Effect of Processing Variables on AgarNanospheres Loaded with Bupropion HCl by a D-OptimalDesign”), A. Rees et al. from UK (“3D Bioprinting of Car-boxymethylated-Periodate Oxidized Nanocellulose Con-structs forWound Dressing Applications”), and F. Hong et al.from China (“Preliminary Study on Biosynthesis of Bacte-rial Nanocellulose Tubes in a Novel Double-Silicone-TubeBioreactor for Potential Vascular Prosthesis”) had focused onnanotechnology applied to polysaccharides, particularly onthe use of sophisticated techniques to optimize the design offinal products. J. Varshosaz et al. prepared agar nanospheresfor controlled drug release using sophisticatedDesign-Expertsoftwarewith the aim of optimizing the release characteristicsby a careful control of fabrication conditions. A. Rees et al.reported on three-dimensional (3D) bioplotter applied tonanocellulose. 3D bioplotting allows the construction ofcomplex shapes, otherwise unfeasible through traditionalmanufacturing techniques. The authors prepared nanocellu-lose in form of short nanofibrils of reduced viscosity andused this novel material as a bioink for printing 3D porousstructures for wound healing applications. F. Hong et al.described a novel double tubes bioreactor, based on previouspatents and papers of KLEMM group and GATENHOLMgroup, designed for the production of bacterial nanocellulosetubes for small vascular implants. Y. Shirosaki et al. fromJapan (“Preparation of Porous Chitosan-Siloxane HybridsCoated with Hydroxyapatite Particles”) developed a methodfor apatite deposition on a novel porous material based on

Hindawi Publishing CorporationBioMed Research InternationalVolume 2015, Article ID 242378, 2 pageshttp://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/242378

2 BioMed Research International

chitosan, potentially interesting as bone substitute in cranio-facial surgery. S. Uthaman et al. fromKorea (“Polysaccharide-Coated Magnetic Nanoparticles for Imaging and GeneTher-apy”) reviewed recent progresses of polysaccharide-coatedmagnetic nanoparticles for imaging and gene delivery, high-lighting the role of polysaccharide coating and its advantages.

P. Montanucci et al. from Italy (“Insights in Behavior ofVariably Formulated Alginate-Based Microcapsules for CellTransplantation”) and S. Benni et al. from France (“DynamicContactAngleAnalysis of ProteinAdsorption onPolysaccha-rideMultilayer’s Films for Biomaterial Reendothelialization”)explored the field of tissue engineering by investigating,respectively, the role of fabrication parameters on efficiencyof alginate microcapsules for cell immobilization and thesurface modification of stents by polysaccharides depositionto favor protein absorption and reendothelialization afterimplantation in human vessels. L. Russo et al. fromItaly (“Hyaluronic Acid Based Hydrogels for RegenerativeMedicine Applications”) developed novel hyaluronic acidhydrogels with mechanical properties similar to those of theECM of natural tissues.

Polysaccharides have also been exploited for their poten-tial healing effects. M. Matoba et al. from Japan (“Pre-vention of Polyglycolic Acid-Induced Peritoneal AdhesionsUsing Alginate in a Rat Model”) highlighted the antiadhe-sive effect of alginate in postoperative treatments to pre-vent adhesions induced by PGA meshes. P. K. Bhatejaand R. Singh from India (“Antidiabetic Activity of Aca-cia tortilis (Forsk.) Hayne ssp. raddiana Polysaccharide onStreptozotocin-Nicotinamide Induced Diabetic Rats”) inves-tigated the antidiabetic activity of a polysaccharide extractedfrom Acacia tortilis, a tree widespread in the globe, mainly inNorth Africa and Asia.

Uniformly, the authors highlighted the potentiality of thisemerging class of biocompatible macromolecules in bioma-terials field as source of both newmolecules with therapeuticeffects and newmaterials for regenerative medicine and real-ization of biomedical devices.

Paola LaurienzoJoão C. Fernandes

Sylvia Colliec-JouaultJ. Helen Fitton

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editorial the use of natural polysaccharides as biomaterials · 2019. 7. 31. · the use of natural...

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