A microbially-induced inflammatory periodontal disease is the main initiator to disrupt the periodontium. It is desirable to develop a newly guided bone regeneration (GBR) scaffold to accomplish the periodontal tissue regeneration for the concurrent control of inflammation. A novel therapeutic solution for GBR based on 3D multifunctional scaffolds, which combines the merits of osseous regeneration and local anti-inflammatory drug delivery, has been developed. The 3D dual-drug delivery scaffold (DDDS) loaded with parthenolide and naringin was successfully developed by thermally-induced phase separation techniques. The DDDS was hierarchically interconnected to the porous PLLA scaffold loaded with the hydrophobic parthenolide. In addition, the hydrophilic naringin loaded in chitosan microspheres was embedded in the scaffold. In vitro drug release profile results revealed that the DDDS showed an efficient sequential controlled release pattern with parthenolide delivered rapidly, followed by naringin delivered in a more sustained manner. Cell viability of MC3T3-E1 showed a combined effect of dual-drug delivery. Hemolysis of the DDDS was 1.84 ± 0.44%, which is less than that of the pure PLLA scaffold. To further evaluate the in vivo guided bone regeneration effect of the DDDS, a rat fenestration defect model was generated. The defects were harvested after 4 and 8 weeks for micro-CT and histological observation. The results suggested that the DDDS group had significantly increased the regenerated bone volume fraction compared to both the control and PLLA groups at 8 weeks, which was in parallel with the reduced expression of IL-6. This DDDS, as a GBR scaffold, might be utilized as a novel adjunctive treatment in periodontitis.

Microwave (MW) hyperthermia has received great attention as an emerging green tumor thermotherapy. In this work, layered MoS2 nanoflowers were prepared through a simple bottom-up hydrothermal process. By coating MoS2 nanoflowers with bovine serum albumin (BSA-MoS2), BSA-MoS2 exhibits low biotoxicity and excellent microwave susceptive properties in vitro. Meanwhile, the heating effect improvement by the layered structure was confirmed via a computer-simulated experiment. Finally, layered BSA-MoS2 nanoflowers are designed as MW hyperthermia susceptible agents for in vivo cancer therapy with 100% tumor elimination via MW irradiation at 1.8 W, 450 MHz.

Natural enamel has a hierarchically nanoassembled architecture that is regulated by enamel matrix proteins (EMPs) during the formation of enamel crystals. To understand the role of EMPs on enamel mineralization, calcium phosphate (CaP) growth experiments in both the presence and absence of native rat EMPs in a single diffusion system were conducted. The morphology and organization of formed CaP crystals were examined by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), High-Resolution Transmission Microscopy (HRTEM) and Selected Area Electron Diffraction (SAED). In the system containing the EMPs, hydroxyapatite (HAP) with hierarchical lamellar nanostructure can be formed and the aligned HAP assembly tightly bundled by 3–4 rod-like nanocrystals like an enamel prism. However, in the absence of EMPs, only a sheet-like structure of octacalcium phosphate (OCP) phase was presented. EMPs promote HAP formation and inhibit the growth of OCP on the (010) plane. It is discussed that the organized Amelogenin/Amorphous Calcium Phosphate might be the precursor to the bundled HAP crystal prism. The study benefits the understanding of biomineralization of tooth enamel.Highlights► An aligned hydroxyapatite crystal bundled by rod-like nanosize crystals was obtained. ► An organized Amel/ACP would be the precursor of the bundled hydroxyapatite crystal prism. ► EMPs inhibit the growth of octacalcium phosphate in a defined plane.

With a homogeneous distribution of hydroxyapatite (HAP) crystals in polymer matrix, composite scaffolds chitosan/HAP and chitosan/collagen/HAP were fabricated in the study. XRD, SEM and EDX were used to characterize their components and structure, in vitro cell culture and in vivo animal tests were used to evaluate their biocompatibility. HAP crystals with rod-like shape embeded in chitosan scaffold, while HAP fine-granules bond with collagen/chitosan scaffold compactly. A homogenous distribution of Ca and P elements both in chitosan/HAP scaffold and chitosan/collagen/HAP scaffold was defined by EDX pattern. The presence of collagen brought a more homogenous distribution of HAP due to its higher ability to induce HAP precipitation. The results of in vitro cell culture showed that the composite’s biocompatibility was enhanced by the homogenous distribution of HAP. In vivo animal studies showed that the in vivo biodegradation was effectively improved by the addition of HAP and collagen, and was less influenced by the homogeneous distribution of HAP when compared with a concentrated distribution one. The composite scaffolds with a homogeneous HAP distribution would be excellent alternative scaffolds for bone tissue engineering.

Microwave (MW) hyperthermia has received great attention as an emerging green tumor thermotherapy. In this work, layered MoS2 nanoflowers were prepared through a simple bottom-up hydrothermal process. By coating MoS2 nanoflowers with bovine serum albumin (BSA-MoS2), BSA-MoS2 exhibits low biotoxicity and excellent microwave susceptive properties in vitro. Meanwhile, the heating effect improvement by the layered structure was confirmed via a computer-simulated experiment. Finally, layered BSA-MoS2 nanoflowers are designed as MW hyperthermia susceptible agents for in vivo cancer therapy with 100% tumor elimination via MW irradiation at 1.8 W, 450 MHz.