Vacuum plasma sprayed coatings using ionic silver doped hydroxyapatite powder to prevent bacterial infection of bone implants.

Fast and efficient osseointegration of implants into bone is of crucial importance for their clinical success; a process that can be enhanced by coating the implant surface with hydroxyapatite (HA) using the vacuum plasma spray technology (VPS). However, bacterial infections, especially the biofilm formation on implant surfaces after a surgery, represent a serious complication. With ever-increasing numbers of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, there is great interest in silver (Ag) as an alternative to classical antibiotics due to its broad activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains. In the present study, silver ions were introduced into HA spray powder by ion exchange and the HA-Ag powder was applied onto titanium samples by VPS. The Ag-containing surfaces were evaluated for the kinetics of the silver release, its antibacterial effect against Staphylococcus aureus as well as Escherichia coli, and possible cytotoxicity against human bone cells. The HA-Ag coatings with different concentrations of Ag displayed mechanical and compositional properties that fulfill the regulatory requirements. Evaluation of the Ag release kinetic showed a high release rate in the first 24 h followed by a decreasing release rate over the four subsequent days. The HA-Ag coatings showed no cytotoxicity to primary human bone cells while exhibiting antibacterial activity to E. coli and S. aureus.

In vitro mechanistic study towards a better understanding of ZnO nanoparticle toxicity.

ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) elicit significant adverse effects in various cell types, organisms and in the environment. The toxicity of nanoscale ZnO has often been ascribed to the release of zinc ions from the NPs but it is not yet understood to which extent these ions contribute to ZnO NP toxicity and what are the underlying mechanisms. Here, we take one step forward by demonstrating that ZnO-induced Jurkat cell death is largely an ionic effect involving the extracellular release of high amounts of Zn(II), their rapid uptake by the cells and the induction of a caspase-independent alternative apoptosis pathway that is independent of the formation of ROS. In addition, we identified novel coating strategies to reduce ZnO NP dissolution and subsequent adverse effects.

Application of activated charcoal in the downstream processing of bacterial olefinic poly(3-hydroxyalkanoates).

Medium chain length poly(hydroxyalkanoates) (mcl-PHAs) are bacterial thermoplastic elastomers with a large potential in medical applications. The present study provides a novel process to isolate and purify poly([R]-3-hydroxy-omega-undecenoate-co-3-hydroxy-omega-nonenoate-co-3-hydroxy-omega-heptenoate) (PHUE) and poly([R]-3-hydroxy-omega-undecenoate-co-3-hydroxy-omega-nonenoate-co-3-hydroxyoctanoate-co-3-hydroxy-omega-heptenoate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate) (PHOUE) from Pseudomonas putida species. Three different types of activated charcoal were compared with regard to their capability to selectively remove impurities. The product 'Charcoal activated, powder, pure' from Merck was found to be most suitable. Using ethyl acetate as solvent, the polyesters were extracted from freeze-dried biomass at room temperature and simultaneously purified by addition of activated charcoal at the beginning of the extraction. The period of extraction was one hour and the ratio solvent to biomass was 15:1 (vol/wt). After extraction, the solids were separated by pressure filtration through a metallic lace tissue. The filtrate was again passed through the previously accumulated filter cake, followed by a second filtration through a 0.45 microm membrane to remove finest coal particles. The resulting filtrate was concentrated, thus yielding polyesters whose quality and yield depended on the quantity of activated charcoal applied. For highly pure PHUE and PHOUE with low endotoxin levels, the optimum ratio of activated charcoal to solvent for extraction (V/V) was found to be 0.5 for PHUE and 0.25 for PHOUE. The yields with regard to the raw polymers amounted to 55 wt% for PHUE and 75 wt% for PHOUE, which are acceptable for polymers that can be used for medical applications.

Uncertainty due to volumetric operations is often underestimated.

Fifteen international titration standards were evaluated to determine minimum and maximum combined standard uncertainties. Assuming most thorough performance of the analyses revealed minimum values, whereas maximum values of uncertainty were obtained assuming that the analyses had been done under high time pressure. Minimum and maximum uncertainties were compared with the corresponding reproducibility standard deviations. Since the combined standard uncertainty is expected to lie between the reproducibility standard deviation and the maximum combined standard uncertainty, realistic standard uncertainties of individual influence quantities of volumetric and weighing procedures could be calculated. This top-down approach revealed up to 4 times higher uncertainties for volumetric operations compared to the bottom-up approach according to the current literature. Hence, uncertainty due to volumetric operations is obviously strongly underestimated. The present study additionally contains a ranking of the contributions to the uncertainty of titrimetric results.