ABSTRACT
Synthetic hydrogels have been proposed as vitreous substitutes recently. This study aims to evaluate the biocompatibility of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) crosslinked with trisodium trimetaphosphate (SMTP) hydrogel in rabbit vitrectomized eyes. Seven animals were submitted to pars plana vitrectomy and the vitreous was replaced by PVA/SMTP hydrogel. Optical coherence tomography, fluorescein angiogram, clinical, and electrophysiological (ERG) examinations were analyzed at baseline, on postoperative days 7 and 30. The fellow eye was used as the control group. Hydrogel opacification was observed and ERG recordings were reduced in the hydrogel group in rod response, b-wave cone response and flicker. A histological analysis showed retinal disorganization, presence of multinucleated cells, and intraretinal hydrogel particles. The PVA/SMTP hydrogel showed poor biocompatibility. Novel biomaterials compounds should be analyzed in vivo.
Subject(s)
Polyvinyl Alcohol , Vitrectomy , Animals , Hydrogels/pharmacology , Polyvinyl Alcohol/pharmacology , Rabbits , Retina , Vitreous BodyABSTRACT
Biological activities of flavonoids have been extensively reviewed in literature. The biochemical profile of afzelin, kaempferitrin, and pterogynoside acting on reactive oxygen species was investigated in this paper. The flavonoids were able to act as scavengers of the superoxide anion, hypochlorous acid and taurine chloramine. Although flavonoids are naturally occurring substances in plants which antioxidant activities have been widely advertised as beneficial, afzelin, kaempferitrin, and pterogynoside were able to promote cytotoxic effect. In red blood cells this toxicity was enhanced, depending on flavonoids concentration, in the presence of hypochlorous acid, but reduced in the presence of 2,2'-azo-bis(2-amidinopropane) free radical. These flavonoids had also promoted the death of neutrophils, which was exacerbated when the oxidative burst was initiated by phorbol miristate acetate. Therefore, despite their well-known scavenging action toward free radicals and oxidants, these compounds could be very harmful to living organisms through their action over erythrocytes and neutrophils.
Subject(s)
Flavonols/pharmacology , Free Radical Scavengers/pharmacology , Kaempferols/pharmacology , Mannosides/pharmacology , Proanthocyanidins/pharmacology , Reactive Oxygen Species/metabolism , Animals , Cell Death/drug effects , Erythrocytes/drug effects , Fabaceae/chemistry , Flavonols/toxicity , Hemolysis/drug effects , Humans , Hypochlorous Acid/metabolism , In Vitro Techniques , Kaempferols/toxicity , Mannosides/toxicity , Neutrophils/drug effects , Oxidative Stress/drug effects , Proanthocyanidins/toxicity , Rats , Respiratory Burst/drug effects , Superoxides/metabolism , Taurine/metabolism , Tetradecanoylphorbol Acetate/pharmacologyABSTRACT
Recently, much research on the evaluation of new cellulose sources has been developed. In this context, a promising source is "napier grass", which contains 30.40% lignin, 36.34% cellulose, and 34.12% hemicellulose. In this work, conditions for the delignification of "napier grass" in the laboratory were studied by using calcium oxide (CaO) and hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)). The best pulping conditions were 9.00% CaO for a period of 2.73 h, which resulted in 74.99% delignification and 66.58% cellulose. The best conditions for the bleaching process were pH 12 and hydrogen peroxide at concentration of 4.2% for 6h, at a temperature of 40 °C, which gave 90.98% delignification and 99.21% cellulose. The analyses were performed by using weight percent.
