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Exposure to high levels of radiation can cause acute, long-term health effects, such as acute radiation syndrome, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. This is an important occupational hazard in different fields, such as the aerospace and healthcare industry, as well as a crucial burden to overcome to boost space applications and exploration. Protective bulky equipment made of heavy metals is not suitable for many advanced purporses, such as mobile devices, wearable shields, and manned spacecrafts. In the latter case, the in-space manufacturing of protective shields is highly desirable and remains an unmet need. Composites made of polymers and high atomic number fillers are potential means for radiation protection due to their low weight, good flexibility, and good processability. In the present work, we developed electrospun composites based on polycaprolactone (polymer matrix) and tungsten powder for application as shielding materials. Electrospinning is a versatile technology that is easily scalable at an industrial level and allows obtaining very lightweight, flexible sheet materials for wearables. By controlling tungsten powder size, we engineered homogeneous, stable and processable suspensions to fabricate radiation composite shielding sheets. The shielding capability was assessed by an in vivo model on prototype composite sheets containing 80 w% of W filler in a polycaprolactone (PCL) fibrous matrix by means of irradiation tests (X-rays) on mice. The obtained results are promising; as expected, the shielding effectivity of the developed composite material increases with the thickness/number of stacked layers. It is worth noting that a thin barrier consisting of 24 layers of the innovative shielding material reduces the extent of apoptosis by 1.5 times compared to the non-shielded mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Material extrusion (MEX), commonly referred to as fused deposition modeling (FDM) or fused filament fabrication (FFF), is a versatile and cost-effective technique to fabricate suitable scaffolds for tissue engineering. Driven by a computer-aided design input, specific patterns can be easily collected in an extremely reproducible and repeatable process. Referring to possible skeletal affections, 3D-printed scaffolds can support tissue regeneration of large bone defects with complex geometries, an open major clinical challenge. In this study, polylactic acid scaffolds were printed resembling trabecular bone microarchitecture in order to deal with morphologically biomimetic features to potentially enhance the biological outcome. Three models with different pore sizes (i.e., 500, 600, and 700 µm) were prepared and evaluated by means of micro-computed tomography. The biological assessment was carried out seeding SAOS-2 cells, a bone-like cell model, on the scaffolds, which showed excellent biocompatibility, bioactivity, and osteoinductivity. The model with larger pores, characterized by improved osteoconductive properties and protein adsorption rate, was further investigated as a potential platform for bone-tissue engineering, evaluating the paracrine activity of human mesenchymal stem cells. The reported findings demonstrate that the designed microarchitecture, better mimicking the natural bone extracellular matrix, favors a greater bioactivity and can be thus regarded as an interesting option for bone-tissue engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Large bone defect treatments have always represented an important challenge in clinical practice and created a large demand for more efficacious regenerative approaches. The bone tissue engineering approach offered a new alternative to conventional bone grafts, addressing all clinical needs. Among the most used biomaterials for bone tissue engineering, polylactic acid scaffolds have been considered the most promising ones due to their good biocompatibility, non-toxic biodegradability and bioresorbability. In this work, we evaluated the physiological response of human foetal osteoblast cells, in terms of cell proliferation and osteogenic differentiation, within oxygen plasma treated 3D-printed polylactic acid scaffolds, obtained by fused deposition modelling. The obtained data suggested that 3D-printed polylactic acid scaffolds represent promising biomaterials for medical implantable devices in the orthopaedic field and have the potential to increase patients' quality of life. Large bone defect treatments have always been one of the important challenges in clinical practice and created a huge demand for more efficacious regenerative approaches. The bone tissue engineering (BTE) approach offered a new alternative to conventional bone grafts, addressing all clinical needs. Over the past years, BTE research is focused on the study and realisation of new biomaterials, including 3D-printed supports to improve mechanical, structural and biological properties. Among these, polylactic acid (PLA) scaffolds have been considered the most promising biomaterials due to their good biocompatibility, non-toxic biodegradability and bioresorbability. In this work, we evaluated the physiological response of human foetal osteoblast cells (hFOB), in terms of cell proliferation and osteogenic differentiation, within oxygen plasma treated 3D-printed PLA scaffolds, obtained by fused deposition modelling (FDM). A mechanical simulation to predict their behaviour to traction, flexural or torque solicitations was performed. We found that: 1. hFOB cells adhere and grow on scaffold surfaces; 2. hFOB grown on oxygen plasma treated PLA scaffolds (PLA_PT) show an improvement of cell adhesion and proliferation, compared to not-plasma treated scaffolds (PLA_NT); 3. Over time, hFOB penetrate along strands, differentiate, and form a fibrous matrix, tissue-like; 4. 3D-printed PLA scaffolds have good mechanical behaviour in each analysed configuration. These findings suggest that 3D-printed PLA scaffolds could represent promising biomaterials for medical implantable devices in the orthopaedic field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scaffold is a key element in the field of tissue engineering, especially when large defects or substitutions of pathological tissues or organs need to be clinically addressed. The expected outcome is strongly dependent on the cell–scaffold interaction and the integration with the surrounding biological tissue. Indeed, mimicking the natural extracellular matrix (ECM) of the tissue to be healed represents a further optimization that can limit a possible morphological mismatch between the scaffold and the tissue itself. For this aim, and referring to bone tissue engineering, polylactic acid (PLA) scaffolds were 3D printed with a microstructure inspired by the trabecular architecture and biologically evaluated by means of human osteosarcoma SAOS-2 cells. The cells were seeded on two types of scaffolds differing for the designed pore size (i.e., 400 and 600 µm), showing the same growth exponential trend found in the control and no significant alterations in the actin distribution. The microporous structure of the two tested samples enhanced the protein adsorption capability and mRNA expression of markers related to protein synthesis, proliferation, and osteoblast differentiation. Our findings demonstrate that 3D-printed scaffolds support the adhesion, growth, and differentiation of osteoblast-like cells and the microporous architecture, mimicking the natural bone hierarchical structure, and favoring greater bioactivity. These bioinspired scaffolds represent an interesting new tool for bone tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hyperspectral analysis is a well-established technique that can be suitably implemented in several application fields, including materials science. This approach allows us to deal with data samples containing spatial and spectral information at very high resolution, thus enabling us to evaluate materials properties at a nanoscale level. As a proof of concept, hyperspectral imaging was here considered to investigate 3D printed polymer matrix composites, considering graphene oxide (GO) as a nanofiller. Commercial polycaprolactone and polylactic acid filaments were firstly treated with GO to be then printed into testing specimens. Raman analysis was performed to assess the GO distribution on samples surface by mapping different regions of interest and the collected data were the input of a custom-made algorithm for hyperspectral image analysis, tailored to detect the GO signature. Findings showed a valuable matching to Raman maps and were also characterized by the positive feature of avoiding to set specific conditions to perform the investigation as GO Raman distribution was carried out by fixing the wavenumber at 1580 cm−1, which is representative of the G band of the nanofiller. This occurrence might lead to an uneven intensity representation related to possible peak shifts which can bias the acquired results. Differently, hyperspectral imaging needs a minimal set of data input, i.e., the spectral signatures of neat materials, to directly identify the searched nanomaterial. More in-depth investigations need to be performed to fully validate the proposed approach, but the here presented results already show the potential and versatility of hyperspectral analysis in the materials science field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The modification of 3D printing filaments with specific compounds, especially nanomaterials, can be regarded as an effective approach for the fabrication of novel composite structures. For this aim, the interest for potential applications of graphene oxide is continuously growing thanks to its versatility in several technological fields ranging, e.g., from mechanical engineering and sensors development to bioengineering. The intrinsic properties of this 2D carbon nanomaterial joined to the potential of 3D printing can pave the way to different approaches for designing and manufacturing ad hoc components. The present study shows a straightforward method to cover a commercial polymeric filament with graphene oxide to be subsequently processed into a testing structure by fused deposition modeling. The experimental characterization was carried out to assess the reliability of the process with the aim to evaluate the presence, the role and the distribution of the graphene oxide on the polymeric surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An effective filler dispersion within a polymeric matrix is known to be a crucial requirement for obtaining the desired performance from a composite. A quantification of this parameter cannot be always easily achieved and several methodologies have been proposed so far, generally based on complex image processing algorithms. However, no standard has been established yet. In order to contribute to the quantitative evaluation of the filler dispersion in a polymeric matrix, a novel straightforward two-dimensional alternative method based on the analysis of electron microscopy micrographs is here proposed. Several case studies were considered to test the reliability of the approach, providing as resulting output, either a qualitative polar plot representative of the analyzed image and an index to measure the filler dispersion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Raman spectroscopy is a powerful optical technique based on the inelastic scattering of incident light to assess the chemical composition of a sample, including biological ones. Medical diagnostic applications of Raman spectroscopy are constantly increasing to provide biochemical and structural information on several specimens, being not affected by water interference, and potentially avoiding the constraint of additional labelling procedures. New strategies have been recently developed to overcome some Raman limitations related, for instance, to the need to deal with an adequate quantity of the sample to perform a reliable analysis. In this regard, the use of metallic nanoparticles, the optimization of fiber optic probes, and other approaches can actually enhance the signal intensity compared to spontaneous Raman scattering. Moreover, to further increase the potential of this investigation technique, aptamers can be considered as a valuable means, being synthetic, short, single, or double-stranded oligonucleotides (RNAs or DNAs) that fold up into unique 3D structures to specifically bind to selected molecules, even at very low concentrations, and thus allowing an early diagnosis of a possible disease. Due to the paramount relevance of the topic, this review focuses on the main Raman spectroscopy techniques combined with aptamer arrays in the label-free mode, providing an overview on different applications to support healthcare management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aptamers, synthetic single-stranded DNA or RNA molecules, can be regarded as a valuable improvement to develop novel ad hoc sensors to diagnose several clinical pathologies. Their intrinsic potential is related to the high specificity and sensitivity to the selected target biomarkers, being capable of detecting very low concentrations and thus allowing an early diagnosis of a possible disease. This kind of probe can be usefully integrated into a number of different devices in order to provide a reliable acquisition of the analyte and properly elaborate the related signal. The study presents the fabrication and characterization of a label-free aptamer sensor designed using a gold-coated silicon nanostructured substrate to map the target molecule by means of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). As a proof, thrombin was used as a model at four different concentrations (i.e., 0.0873, 0.873, 8.73, and 87.3 nM). SERS mapping analysis was carried out considering each representative band of the aptamer-thrombin complex (centered at 822, 1140, and 1558 cm−1) and then combining them in order to acquire a comprehensive and unambiguous measure of the target. In both cases, a valuable correlation was evaluated, even if the first approach can suffer from some limitations in the third band related to lower definition of the characteristic peak compared to those in the other two bands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]