In vivo performance of simvastatin-loaded electrospun spiral-wound polycaprolactone scaffolds in reconstruction of cranial bone defects in the rat model.

Reconstruction of large bone defects is still a major problem. Tissue-engineering approaches have become a focus in regeneration of bone. In particular, critical-sized defects do not ossify spontaneously. The use of electrospinning is attracting increasing attention in the preparation of tissue-engineering scaffolds. Recently, acellular scaffolds carrying bioactive agents have been used as scaffolds in "in situ" tissue engineering for soft and hard tissue repair. Poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL) with two different molecular weights were synthesized, and the blends of these two were electrospun into nonwoven membranes composed of nanofibers/micropores. To stimulate bone formation, an active drug, "simvastatin" was loaded either after the membranes were formed or during electrospinning. The matrices were then spiral-wound to produce scaffolds with 3D-structures having both macro- and microchannels. Eight-millimeter diameter critical size cranial defects were created in rats. Scaffolds with or without simvastatin were then implanted into these defects. Samples from the implant sites were removed after 1, 3, and 6 months postimplantation. Bone regeneration and tissue response were followed by X-ray microcomputed tomography and histological analysis. These in vivo results exhibited osseous tissue integration within the implant and mineralized bone restoration of the calvarium. Both microCT and histological data clearly demonstrated that the more successful results were observed with the "simvastatin-containing PCL scaffolds," in which simvastatin was incorporated into the PCL scaffolds during electrospinning. For these samples, bone mineralization was quite significant when compared with the other groups.

Use of agricultural waste sugar beet pulp for the removal of Gemazol turquoise blue-G reactive dye from aqueous solution.

The potential use of dried sugar beet pulp, an agricultural solid waste by-product, as an biosorbent for Gemazol turquoise blue-G, a copper-pthalocyanine reactive dye commonly used in dyeing of cotton, was investigated in the present study. Batch adsorption studies were carried out to examine the influence of various parameters such as initial pH, temperature and initial dye concentration. The results indicated that adsorption was strongly pH-dependent and slightly temperature-dependent. At 800 mg l(-1) initial Gemazol turquoise blue-G concentration, dried sugar beet pulp exhibited the highest Gemazol turquoise blue-G uptake capacity of 234.8 mg g(-1) at 25 degrees C and at an initial pH value of 2.0. The Freundlich, Langmuir, Redlich-Peterson and Langmuir-Freundlich, the two and three parameters adsorption models were used for the mathematical description of the biosorption equilibrium and isotherm constants were evaluated depending on temperature. Both the Langmuir and Redlich-Peterson models were applicable for describing the dye biosorption by dried sugar beet pulp in the concentration (100-800 mg l(-1)) and temperature (25-45 degrees C) ranges studied. Simple mass transfer and kinetic models were applied to the experimental data to examine the mechanisms of biosorption and potential rate controlling steps such as external mass transfer, intraparticle diffusion and biosorption process. The sorption process was found to be controlled by both surface and pore diffusion with surface diffusion at the earlier stages followed by pore diffusion at the later stages. Pseudo first-order, pseudo second-order and saturation type kinetic models described the biosorption kinetics accurately at all concentrations and temperatures studied. The thermodynamic analysis indicated that the sorption process was exothermic and the biosorption of dye on dried sugar beet pulp might be physical in nature.