Synthesis and characterization of cycloaliphatic hydrophilic polyurethanes, modified with l-ascorbic acid, as materials for soft tissue regeneration.

In this paper we described synthesis and characteristic of obtained hydrophilic polyurethanes (PURs) modified with ascorbic acid (commonly known as vitamin C). Such materials may find an application in the biomedical field, for example in the regenerative medicine of soft tissues, according to ascorbic acid wide influence on tissue regeneration Flora (2009), Szymanska-Pasternak et al. (2011), Taikarimi and Ibrahim (2011), Myrvik and Volk (1954), Li et al. (2001), Cursino et al. (2005) . Hydrophilic PURs were obtained with the use of amorphous α,ω-dihydroxy(ethylene-butylene adipate) (dHEBA) polyol, 1,4-butanediol (BDO) chain extender and aliphatic 4,4'-methylenebis(cyclohexyl isocyanate) (HMDI). HMDI was chosen as a nontoxic diisocyanate, suitable for biomedical PUR synthesis. Modification with l-ascorbic acid (AA) was performed to improve obtained PUR materials biocompatibility. Chemical structure of obtained PURs was provided and confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1HNMR). Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to indicate the influence of ascorbic acid modification on such parameters as glass transition temperature, melting temperature and melting enthalpies of obtained materials. To determine how these materials may potentially behave, after implementation in tissue, degradation behavior of obtained PURs in various chemical environments, which were represented by canola oil, saline solution, distilled water and phosphate buffered saline (PBS) was estimated. The influence of AA on hydrophilic-hydrophobic character of obtained PURs was established by contact angle study. This experiment revealed that ascorbic acid significantly improves hydrophilicity of obtained PUR materials and the same cause that they are more suitable candidates for biomedical applications. Good hemocompatibility characteristic of studied PUR materials was confirmed by the hemocompatibility test with human blood. Microbiological tests were carried out to indicate the microbiological sensitivity of obtained PURs. Results of performed studies showed that obtained AA-modified PUR materials may find an application in soft tissue regeneration.

Cloning, expression, and purification of the uropathogenic Escherichia coli invasin DraD.

In this study we presented a very efficient expression system, based on pET30LIC/Ek vector, for producing DraD invasin of the uropathogenic Escherichia coli and a one-step chromatography purification procedure for obtaining pure recombinant protein (DraD-C-His(6)). This protein has a molecular weight of 14,818 and calculated pI of 6.6. It contains a polyhistidine tag at the C-terminus (13 additional amino acids) that allowed single-step isolation by Ni affinity chromatography. Also, we obtained specific antibodies against DraD invasin to develop tools for characterizing the expression and biological function of this protein. The amount and quality of DraD-C-His(6) fusion protein purified from E. coli overexpression system seems to be fully appropriate for crystallographic studies (soluble form), and for establishing role of the protein in bacterium (cultured cell line interaction and in the internalization process) and for obtaining rabbit polyclonal antisera (insoluble form).