Graduation Semester and Year

2016

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Biomedical Engineering

Department

Bioengineering

First Advisor

Liping Tang

Second Advisor

Yi Hong

Third Advisor

Kytai Truong Nguyen

Abstract

Nanostructured materials have been explored in biomedical field especially in tissue engineering over a past decade. This type of material can be processed into biomaterial scaffolds; revealed many advantages to be used in human living system such as restoring, healing, replacing and improving the function of interested tissues or organs. In this work, nanostructured materials were synthesized as a nanofibrous scaffold or nanoparticles, which were characterized and tested for their biofunctions in the regeneration of blood vessels, lung and skin tissues. Firstly, biodegradable polyurethane nanofibrous scaffolds with dipyramole were electrospun to create a vascular graft, and results demonstrated that this nanofibrous scaffold matched the native artery mechanical strength, reduced the platelet deposition, improved blood compatibility, supported endothelial cell formation and inhibited the proliferation of smooth muscle cells. Next, biodegradable polylactic-glycolic acid nanoparticles were fabricated and then coated with porcine lung extracellular matrix to maximize the nanoparticle deposition on the alveolar epithelial cells. These nanoparticles also show that they were cytocompatible with alveolar type I epithelial cells and facilitated the cellular retention/uptake. Preliminary studies of electrospun nanofibrous polyurethane scaffold incorporated with nanoparticles loaded with anti-microbial peptide and/or antibiotics for wound healing application demonstrated these nanostructured materials could be used to prevent bacterial infection and suggest their potential in skin wound healing applications. Results from this research suggest that the biomaterials either in the nanofiber or nanoparticle structures could be used for regeneration of various tissue organs such as blood vessels and skins, and for protein (growth factors) or gene therapy (cDNA plasmids) delivery to facilitate lung regeneration. Hence, the nanostructured biomaterials would have high potential to be applied for tissue regeneration to manage diseased and damaged tissues/organs for human healthcare.

Keywords

Nanostuctured biomaterial

Disciplines

Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering | Engineering

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

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