Tactic movement of microalgae and its application in targeted transport: a review / 生物工程学报

Microalgae are a group of photosynthetic microorganisms, which have the general characteristics of plants such as photosynthesis, and some species have the ability of movement which resembles animals. Recently, it was reported that microalgae cells can be engineered to precisely deliver medicine-particles and other goods in microfluidic chips. These studies showed great application potential in biomedical treatment and pharmacodynamic analysis, which have become one of the current research hotspots. However, these developments have been rarely reviewed. Here, we summarized the advances in manageable movement exemplified by a model microalgae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii based on its characteristics of chemotaxis, phototaxis, and magnetotaxis. The bottlenecks and prospects in the application of microalgae-based tactic movement were also discussed. This review might be useful for rational design and modification of microalgal manageable movement to achieve targeted transport in medical and other fields.

Electrochemical corrosion and bioactivity of Ti-Nb-Sn-hydroxyapatite composites fabricated by pulse current activated sintering.

Ti-Nb-Sn-hydroxyapatite (HA) composites were prepared by mechanical alloying for different times (unmilled, 4, 8 and 12h), followed by pulse current activated sintering. The effects of the milling time on the electrochemical corrosion resistance and bioactivity of the sintered Ti-35Nb-2.5Sn-15HA composites were investigated. Potentiodynamic polarization test results indicated that the sintered Ti-35Nb-2.5Sn-15HA composites exhibited higher corrosion resistance with increasing milling time. The corrosion potential and current of the Ti-35Nb-2.5Sn-15HA composite sintered by 12h milled powders were - 0.261V and 0.18µA/cm2, respectively, and this sintered composite showed a stable and wide passivation region. The hemolysis rate of the sintered Ti-35Nb-2.5Sn-15HA composites reduced with increasing milling time and the lowest hemolytic rate of the composites was 0.87%. In addition, the in vitro cell culture results indicated that the composite sintered by 12h milled powders had good biocompatibility. These results indicate the significant potential of Ti-35Nb-2.5Sn/xHA composites for biomedical implant applications.