Harnessing the potential of dialdehyde alginate-xanthan gum hydrogels as niche bioscaffolds for tissue engineering

A review of bio-based dialdehyde polysaccharides as multifunctional building blocks for biomedical and food science applications

Food science and biomedical engineering are key disciplines related to human health, with the development of functional materials being an important research direction in both fields. In recent years, dialdehyde polysaccharides (DAPs), as green biopolymers, have become increasingly important in functional materials within food science and biomedical engineering. This work systematically summarizes the sources and properties of various DAPs, introduces their preparation methods and common DAP-based functional biomaterials, including hydrogels, scaffolds, films, coatings, nanoparticles, and nanofibers. Importantly, this work also reviews DAP applications in functional materials for food science and biomedical engineering, such as drug delivery, wound dressings, tissue engineering, food packaging films/edible coatings, food emulsions, antibacterial nanoparticles, and enzyme immobilization. Finally, the work briefly discusses the biosafety of DAPs. To conclude, this study provides a toolkit for developing functional materials in these fields and offers important reference value regarding the broad application of DAPs.

Three-Dimensional Printing/Bioprinting and Cellular Therapies for Regenerative Medicine: Current Advances

The application of three-dimensional (3D) printing/bioprinting technologies and cell therapies has garnered significant attention due to their potential in the field of regenerative medicine. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of 3D printing/bioprinting technology and cell therapies, highlighting their results in diverse medical applications, while also discussing the capabilities and limitations of their combined use. The synergistic combination of 3D printing and cellular therapies has been recognised as a promising and innovative approach, and it is expected that these technologies will progressively assume a crucial role in the treatment of various diseases and conditions in the foreseeable future. This review concludes with a forward-looking perspective on the future impact of these technologies, highlighting their potential to revolutionize regenerative medicine through enhanced tissue repair and organ replacement strategies.

Oxidized ionic polysaccharide hydrogels: Review on derived scaffolds characteristics and tissue engineering applications

Polysaccharide-based hydrogels have gained prominence due to their non-toxicity, biocompatibility, and structural adaptability for constructing tissue engineering scaffolds. Polysaccharide crosslinking is necessary for hydrogel stability in vivo. The periodate oxidation enables the modification of native polysaccharide characteristics for wound healing and tissue engineering applications. It produces dialdehydes, which are used to crosslink biocompatible amine-containing macromolecules such as chitosan, gelatin, adipic acid dihydrazide, silk fibroin, and peptides via imine/hydrazone linkages. Crosslinked oxidized ionic polysaccharide hydrogels have been studied for wound healing, cardiac and liver tissue engineering, bone, cartilage, corneal tissue regeneration, abdominal wall repair, nucleus pulposus regeneration, and osteoarthritis. Several modified hydrogel systems have been synthesized using antibiotics and inorganic substances to improve porosity, mechanical and viscoelastic properties, desired swelling propensity, and antibacterial efficacy. Thus, the injectable hydrogels provide a host-tissue-mimetic environment with high cell adhesion and viability, making them appropriate for scarless wound healing and tissue engineering applications. This review describes the oxidation procedure for alginate, hyaluronic acid, gellan gum, pectin, xanthan gum and chitosan, as well as the characteristics of the resulting materials. Furthermore, a critical review of scientific advances in wound healing and tissue engineering applications has been provided.

Recent advances in scaffolding biomaterials for cultivated meat

The emergence of cultivated meat provides a sustainable and ethical alternative to traditional animal agriculture, highlighting its increasing importance in the food industry. Biomaterial scaffolds are critical components in cultivated meat production for enabling cell adhesion, proliferation, differentiation, and orientation. While there's extensive research on scaffolding biomaterials, applying them to cultivated meat production poses distinct challenges, with each material offering its own set of advantages and disadvantages. This review summarizes the most recent scaffolding biomaterials used in the last five years for cell-cultured meat, detailing their respective advantages and disadvantages. We suggest future research directions and provide recommendations for scaffolds that support scalable, cost-effective, and safe high-quality meat production. Additionally, we highlight commercial challenges cultivated meat faces, encompassing bioreactor design, cell culture mediums, and regulatory and food safety issues. In summary, this review provides a comprehensive guide and valuable insights for researchers and companies in the field of cultivated meat production.

Review on emerging trends and challenges in the modification of xanthan gum for various applications

This review explores the realm of structural modifications and broad spectrum of their potential applications, with a special focus on the synthesis of xanthan gum derivatives through graft copolymerization methods. It delves into the creation of these derivatives by attaching functional groups (-OH and -COOH) to xanthan gum, utilizing a variety of initiators for grafting, and examining their diverse applications, especially in the areas of food packaging, pharmaceuticals, wastewater treatment, and antimicrobial activities. Xanthan gum is a biocompatible, biodegradable, less toxic, bioactive, and cost-effective natural polymer derived from Xanthomonas species. The native properties of xanthan gum can be improved by cross-linking, grafting, curing, blending, and various modification techniques. Grafted xanthan gum has excellent biodegradability, metal binding, dye adsorption, immunological properties, and wound healing ability. Owing to its remarkable properties, such as biocompatibility and its ability to form gels resembling the extracellular matrix of tissues, modified xanthan gum finds extensive utility across biomedicine, engineering, and the food industry. Furthermore, the review also covers various modified derivatives of xanthan gum that exhibit excellent biodegradability, metal binding, dye adsorption, immunological properties, and wound healing abilities. These applications could serve as important resources for a wide range of industries in future product development.

Current application and modification strategy of marine polysaccharides in tissue regeneration: A review

Marine polysaccharides (MPs) are exceptional bioactive materials that possess unique biochemical mechanisms and pharmacological stability, making them ideal for various tissue engineering applications. Certain MPs, including agarose, alginate, carrageenan, chitosan, and glucan have been successfully employed as biological scaffolds in animal studies. As carriers of signaling molecules, scaffolds can enhance the adhesion, growth, and differentiation of somatic cells, thereby significantly improving the tissue regeneration process. However, the biological benefits of pure MPs composite scaffold are limited. Therefore, physical, chemical, enzyme modification and other methods are employed to expand its efficacy. Chemically, the structural properties of MPs scaffolds can be altered through modifications to functional groups or molecular weight reduction, thereby enhancing their biological activities. Physically, MPs hydrogels and sponges emulate the natural extracellular matrix, creating a more conducive environment for tissue repair. The porosity and high permeability of MPs membranes and nanomaterials expedite wound healing. This review explores the distinctive properties and applications of select MPs in tissue regeneration, highlighting their structural versatility and biological applicability. Additionally, we provide a brief overview of common modification strategies employed for MP scaffolds. In conclusion, MPs have significant potential and are expected to be a novel regenerative material for tissue engineering.

In situ forming dialdehyde xanthan gum-gelatin Schiff-base hydrogels as potent controlled release fertilizers

Controlled release fertilizer (CRF) hydrogels have blossomed into promising materials in agriculture owing to the sustained release of the fertilizer and also as soil conditioner. Apart from the traditional CRF hydrogels; Schiff-base hydrogels have garnered significant thrust that release nitrogen slowly in addition to reducing the environmental pollution. Herein, we have fabricated Schiff-base CRF hydrogels composed of dialdehyde xanthan gum (DAXG) and gelatin. The formation of the hydrogels was accomplished via the simplistic in situ crosslinking reaction between the aldehyde groups of DAXG and the amino groups of gelatin. The hydrogels acquired a compact network upon increasing the DAXG content in the matrix. The phytotoxic assay on different plants indicated the hydrogels to be nontoxic. The hydrogels demonstrated good water-retention behaviour in soil, along with reusability even after 5 cycles. A controlled release profile for urea was evident from the hydrogels wherein macromolecular relaxation played a crucial role in the release mechanism. Growth assays on Abelmoschus esculentus (Okra) plant presented an intuitive evaluation on the growth and water-holding capacity of the CRF hydrogel. The present work demonstrated a facile preparation of CRF hydrogels to enhance the utilization of urea and retain soil humidity as fertilizer carriers.

Alginate/xanthan gum hydrogels as forensic blood substitutes for bloodstain formation and analysis

Understanding the behaviour of human blood outside of the body has important implications in forensic research, especially related to bloodstain pattern analysis (BPA). The design of forensic blood substitutes (FBSs) can provide many advantages, including the incorporation of multiple physiological components for use as safe and reliable materials for forensic applications. In this work, we present the design of synthetic alginate and xanthan gum-based hydrogels that contain electrosprayed microparticles (MPs) with and without crosslinked DNA. In addition to the MPs, the alginate/xanthan gum FBS materials include fillers to alter the physical appearance and fluid properties of the material. The optimized FBS consisted of alginate (1% w/v) and xanthan gum (5.0 × 10^-3% w/v), 2 mM CaCl₂, ferric citrate (0.5% w/v), magnesium silicate (0.25% w/v), Allura Red dye (2% w/v), 0.025% v/v Tween 20 and 9.5% v/v MPs. The FBS was tested in passive dripping experiments relevant to BPA scenarios at various impact angles. The spreading ratio (D_s/D₀) was determined for 90° stains made on a paper surface and compared to bovine blood where the FBS was shown to simulate accurate and predictable spreading behaviour. In addition, we simulated other common BPA scenarios (e.g., impact patterns) and evidence processing potential. The FBS could be swabbed, and the DNA could be extracted, amplified, and genotyped analogous to human blood evidence. A stability test was also conducted which revealed a shelf-life of over 4 weeks where the material remains relevant to human blood at physiological temperature.

A review on the synthesis and development of alginate hydrogels for wound therapy

Convenient and low-cost dressings can reduce the difficulty of wound treatment. Alginate gel dressings have the advantages of low cost and safe usage, and they have obvious potential for development in biomedical materials. Alginate gel dressings are currently a research area of great interest owing to their versatility, intelligent, and their application attempts in treating complex wounds. We present a detailed summary of the preparation of alginate hydrogels and a study of their performance improvement. Herein, we summarize the various applications of alginate hydrogels. The research focuses in this area mainly include designing multifunctional dressings for the treatment of various wounds and fabricating specialized dressings to assist physicians in the treatment of complex wounds (TOC). This review gives an outlook for future directions in the field of alginate hydrogel dressings. We hope to attract more research interest and studies in alginate hydrogel dressings, thus contributing to the creation of low-cost and highly effective wound treatment materials.

Natural Materials for 3D Printing and Their Applications

In recent years, 3D printing has gradually become a well-known new topic and a research hotspot. At the same time, the advent of 3D printing is inseparable from the preparation of bio-ink. Natural materials have the advantages of low toxicity or even non-toxicity, there being abundant raw materials, easy processing and modification, excellent mechanical properties, good biocompatibility, and high cell activity, making them very suitable for the preparation of bio-ink. With the help of 3D printing technology, the prepared materials and scaffolds can be widely used in tissue engineering and other fields. Firstly, we introduce the natural materials and their properties for 3D printing and summarize the physical and chemical properties of these natural materials and their applications in tissue engineering after modification. Secondly, we discuss the modification methods used for 3D printing materials, including physical, chemical, and protein self-assembly methods. We also discuss the method of 3D printing. Then, we summarize the application of natural materials for 3D printing in tissue engineering, skin tissue, cartilage tissue, bone tissue, and vascular tissue. Finally, we also express some views on the research and application of these natural materials.

A Porous Hydrogel with High Mechanical Strength and Biocompatibility for Bone Tissue Engineering

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogels are considered to be ideal materials for tissue engineering due to their high water content, low frictional behavior, and good biocompatibility. However, their limited mechanical properties restrict them from being applied when repairing load-bearing tissue. Inspired by the composition of mussels, we fabricated polyvinyl alcohol/hydroxyapatite/tannic acid (PVA/HA/TA) hydrogels through a facile freeze–thawing method. The resulting composite hydrogels exhibited high moisture content, porous structures, and good mechanical properties. The compressive strength and tensile strength of PVA hydrogels were improved from 0.77 ± 0.11 MPa and 0.08 ± 0.01 MPa to approximately 3.69 ± 0.41 MPa and 0.43 ± 0.01 MPa, respectively, for the PVA/HA/1.5TA hydrogel. The toughness and the compressive elastic modulus of PVA/HA/1.5TA hydrogel also attained 0.86 ± 0.02 MJm⁻³ and 0.11 ± 0.02 MPa, which was approximately 11 times and 5 times higher than the PVA hydrogel, respectively. The PVA/HA/1.5TA hydrogel also exhibited fatigue resistance abilities. The mechanical properties of the composite hydrogels were improved through the introduction of TA. Furthermore, in vitro PVA/HA/1.5TA hydrogel showed excellent cytocompatibility by promoting cell proliferation in vitro. Scanning electron microscopy analysis indicated that PVA/HA/1.5TA hydrogels provided favorable circumstances for cell adhesion. The aforementioned results also indicate that the composite hydrogels had potential applications in bone tissue engineering, and this study provides a facile method to improve the mechanical properties of PVA hydrogel.