Design and fabrication of M-SAPO-34/chitosan scaffolds and evaluation of their effects on dental tissue engineering.

This research aimed to design innovative therapeutic bio-composites that enhance odontogenic and osteogenic differentiation of human dental pulp-derived mesenchymal stem cells (h-DPSCs) in-vitro regeneration. Herein, we report the fabrication of scaffolds containing chitosan, Ca-SAPO-34 monometallic and/or Fe-Ca-SAPO-34 bimetallic nanoparticles by freeze-drying technique. The scaffolds and nanoparticles were characterized using ICP-AES, FT-IR, XRD, TGA, TEM, BET, SEM, and EDS methods. The effects of SAPO-34 and nanoparticles were investigated by changes on the physicochemical properties of scaffolds including swelling ratio, density, porosity, bio-degradation, mechanical behavior, and biomineralization. Cell viability, cell adhesion and cytotoxicity of Ca-SAPO-34/CS and Fe-Ca-SAPO-34 scaffolds were investigated by MTT assay and SEM on h-DPSCs which revealed cell proliferation no toxicity on scaffolds. Cell tests demonstrated that Ca-SAPO-34/CS scaffold clearly displayed a positive effect on differentiation of hDPSCs into osteogenic/odontogenic cells and moderate effect on cell proliferation. Moreover, the incorporation of Fe2O3 to Ca-SAPO-34/CS scaffold promoted the proliferation of hDPSCs and osteogenic differentiation. Alizarin red, Alkaline phosphatase and QRT-PCR results showed that Fe-Ca-loaded SAPO-34/CS can lead to osteoblast/odontoblast differentiation in DPSCs through the up-regulation of related genes, thus indicating that Fe-Ca-SAPO-34/CS has remarkable prospects as a biomaterial for hard tissue engineering.

Synthesis, spectroscopic and DFT studies of novel fluorescent dyes: 3-aminoimidazo[1,2-a]pyridines possessing 4-pyrone moieties.

A series of novel imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines possessing 4-pyrone ring were synthesized by three-component condensation of 4-pyrone carbaldehydes, 2-aminopyridines and isocyanides. Bismuth (III) chloride was used as a catalyst in these reactions and desired products were synthesized in good yields at a very short period of time under solvent free conditions. UV-Vis absorption and fluorescence emission spectra of these compounds were investigated. It shown that two of these compounds (10f and 10g) exhibit intense fluorescence in dichloromethane. Optimized ground-state molecular geometries and orbital distributions of these two fluorescent dyes were obtained using density functional theory (DFT). Thermogravimetric analysis and electrochemical properties of these compounds were also studied.