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Biomedical subjects

S Ramakrishna

Publications and source records attributed to S Ramakrishna.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed2004

Fabrication of nano-structured porous PLLA scaffold intended for nerve tissue engineering.

Nerve tissue engineering (NTE) is one of the most promising methods to restore central nerve systems in human health care. Three-dimensional distribution and growth of cells within the porous scaffold are of clinical significance for NTE. In this study, an attempt was made to develop porous polymeric nano-fibrous scaffold using a biodegradable poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) for in vitro culture of nerve stem cells (NSCs). The processing of PLLA scaffold has been carried out by liquid-liquid phase separation method. The physico-chemical properties of the scaffold were fully characterized by using differential scanning calorimetry and scanning electron microscopy. These results confirmed that the prepared scaffold is highly porous and fibrous with diameters down to nanometer scale. As our nano-structured PLLA scaffold mimics natural extracellular matrix, we have intended this biodegradable scaffold as cell carrier in NTE. The in vitro performance of NSCs seeded on nano-fibrous scaffold is addressed in this study. The cell cultural tests showed that the NSCs could differentiate on the nano-structured scaffold and the scaffold acted as a positive cue to support neurite outgrowth. These results suggested that the nano-structured porous PLLA scaffold is a potential cell carrier in NTE.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Coupling of therapeutic molecules onto surface modified coralline hydroxyapatite.

Surface modification and coupling of therapeutic molecules, tetracycline, onto coralline hydroxyapatite (CHA) and their in vitro evaluations were described in this study. Initially, CHA was graft polymerized with glycidylmethacrylate (GMA) using redox initiators and subsequently coupled to tetracycline through epoxy groups. The CHA grafted with polyGMA (CHA-g-PGMA) was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) for proof of grafting. The absorption peaks pertaining to epoxy and ester carbonyl groups were observed for the graft polymer due to PGMA grafting. The XRD results signified that there was no secondary phase in the apatite lattice and crystallinity was also not affected by grafting, which suggested that the PGMA chains were grafted only on the surface of CHA. Drug loading and releasing was evaluated and found that CHA-g-PGMA exhibited higher loading efficiency than CHA. The in vitro release of tetracycline was performed in phosphate buffered saline under physiological condition and the release profiles showed that the tetracycline-containing graft polymer releases the drug for prolonged period as compared to CHA. Based on the experimental results, CHA-g-PGMA appears to be a promising biomaterial for drug delivery.

Adsorption↗
PubMed2004

Bioresorbable composite bone paste using polysaccharide based nano hydroxyapatite.

Aim of this study concerns to the development of bioresorbable composite materials for bone repair and regeneration. Despite nano hydroxyapatite (HA) has wide range of medical applications, particles mobilization and slow resorbable nature limits its use in certain applications particularly, periodontal and alveolar ridge augmentation. To enhance its usage, we have prepared HA composite bone paste with a natural polysaccharide, chitosan, using wet chemical method at low temperature. The prepared composites were analyzed by various physicochemical methods and suggesting that the nano HA crystallites are well intact with the chitosan macromolecules. FT-IR results are indicating the existence of hydroxyl and amide groups in addition to the characteristic peaks of nano HA in the composite paste. The physical nature of paste form implies that it would be highly beneficial for the particle immobilization upon implantation. In vitro physiological stability and solubility of the composite was performed in phosphate buffered saline under physiological condition and found that the rate of resorbability of composite was quite higher than nano HA. These findings suggest that the HA/chitosan composites may have a great impact on human health care systems as bioresorbable bone substitute.

Absorbable Implants↗
PubMed2004

Feasibility of knitted carbon/PEEK composites for orthopedic bone plates.

This paper focuses on fabrication and characterization of knitted carbon/PEEK fabric composites for orthopedic bone plate application. Bending performance of the knitted carbon/PEEK composite bone plates was investigated with respect to two principal knitting directions (wale- and course-directions). As a result, the wale-direction knitted composite bone plates had much scattering in bending stiffness and maximum bending moment although they exhibited the same bending behavior as that of the course-direction specimens. In comparison with our previously developed braided composite bone plates, the knitted composite bone plates had 55-59% bending stiffness, 40-63% yield bending moment, and 54-77% maximum bending moment. However, the knitted composite bone plates showed higher deformability. Based on the results of the braided composite bone plates, it is considered that the knitted composite plate with 3.2mm thickness can be suitable for forearm or humerus treatment especially when damaged bones need higher deformation to encourage bone ossification.

Benzophenones↗
PubMed2004

Aligned biodegradable nanofibrous structure: a potential scaffold for blood vessel engineering.

A unique biodegradable nanofibrous structure, aligned poly(L-lactid-co-epsilon-caprolactone) [P(LLA-CL)] (75:25) copolymer nanofibrous scaffold was produced by electrospinning. The diameter of the generated fibers was around 500 nm with an aligned topography which mimics the circumferential orientation of cells and fibrils found in the medial layer of a native artery. A favorable interaction between this scaffold with human coronary artery smooth muscle cells (SMCs) was demonstrated via MTS assay, phase contrast light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, immunohistology assay and laser scanning confocal microscopy separately. Tissue culture polystyrene and plane solvent-cast P(LLA-CL) film were used as controls. The results showed that, the SMCs attached and migrated along the axis of the aligned nanofibers and expressed a spindle-like contractile phenotype; the distribution and organization of smooth muscle cytoskeleton proteins inside SMCs were parallel to the direction of the nanofibers; the adhesion and proliferation rate of SMCs on the aligned nanofibrous scaffold was significantly improved than on the plane polymer films. The above results strongly suggest that this synthetic aligned matrix combines with the advantages of synthetic biodegradable polymers, nanometer-scale dimension mimicking the natural ECM and a defined architecture replicating the in vivo-like vascular structure, may represent an ideal tissue engineering scaffold, especially for blood vessel engineering.

Absorbable Implants↗
PubMed2004

New lamellarin alkaloids from the Indian ascidian Didemnum obscurum and their antioxidant properties.

Three new lamellarin alkaloids, lamellarins gamma (1), alpha (2), and epsilon (3), along with eight known lamellarin alkaloids, lamellarins M (4), K (5), K-diacetate (6), K-triacetate (7), U (8), I (9), C-diacetate (10), and X-triacetate (11), have been isolated from the Indian ascidian Didemnum obscurum. The structures of 1-11 were established using standard spectroscopic techniques. The structure of lamellarin K-triacetate (7) was further confirmed by X-ray crystallographic analysis. The antioxidant properties of lamellarin gamma, lamellarin gamma-monoacetate, lamellarins K, U, and I, and lamellarin C-diacetate were evaluated.

Alkaloids↗
PubMed2004

Characterization of neural stem cells on electrospun poly(L-lactic acid) nanofibrous scaffold.

Nanofibrous poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) scaffolds were fabricated by an electrospinning technique and characterized by scanning electron microscopy, mercury porosimeter, atomic force microscopy and contact-angle test. The produced PLLA fibers with diameters ranging from 150 to 350 nm were randomly orientated with interconnected pores varying from several microm to about 140 microm in-between to form a three-dimensional architecture, which resembles the natural extracellular matrix structure in human body. The in vitro cell culture study was performed and the results indicate that the nanofibrous scaffold not only supports neural stem cell (NSC) differentiation and neurites out-growth, but also promotes NSC adhesion. The favorable interaction between the NSCs and the nanofibrous scaffold may be due to the greatly improved surface roughness of the electrospun nanofibrous scaffold. As evidenced by this study, the electrospun nanofibrous scaffold is expected to play a significant role in neural tissue engineering.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Performance study of braided carbon/PEEK composite compression bone plates.

In addition to unidirectional laminates and short fiber reinforcements for compression bone plate developments in the literature, we have proposed using a textile structure, i.e. braid preform, for this purpose. In the present paper, the influence of braiding angles and plate thicknesses on the bending performance of the braided composite bone plates is investigated. As a result, the influence of the braiding angle, varied in a certain range, on the plate bending properties is not significant when the plate thickness is thin. This influence becomes higher with an increase in the plate thickness. A 10 degrees braiding angle has been seen to be appropriate for all the cases under consideration. The present study indicates that the braided composite plate with 2.6mm thickness can be suitable for forearm treatment whereas the braided composite plate of 3.2mm thickness is applicable to femur or tibia fixation.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Fabrication of a new composite orthodontic archwire and validation by a bridging micromechanics model.

A new technique based on tube shrinkage is proposed for the fabrication of composite archwires. Compared with a traditional pultrusion method, this new technique can avoid any fiber damage during the fabrication and can provide the archwire with a required curvature in its final clinical usage. The present paper focuses on the technique development and mechanical design and validation in terms of constituent materials by using a micromechanics bridging model. Prototype archwire has been fabricated using fiberglass and an epoxy matrix, with a wire diameter of 0.5mm and a 45% fiber volume fraction. Tensile and three-point bending tests have shown that the mechanical performance of the prototype composite archwire is comparable to that of a clinical Ni-Ti archwire. Another purpose of the present paper is to provide an efficient procedure for a critical design of composite archwires. For this to be possible, the ultimate load especially flexural load carrying ability of the composite archwire must be assessed from the knowledge of its constituent properties. However, difficulty exists in doing this, which comes from the fact that the failure of the utmost filament of the composite archwire subjected to initially the maximum bending stress does not imply its ultimate failure. Additional higher loads can still be applied and a progressive failure process is generated. In this paper, the circular archwire was discretized into a number of parallel laminae along its axis direction, and the bridging micromechanics model combined with the classical lamination theory has been applied to understand the progressive failure process with reasonable accuracy. Only the constituent fiber and matrix properties are required for this understanding. Nevertheless, the ultimate bending strength cannot be obtained only based on a stress failure criterion. This is because neither the first-ply nor the last-ply failure corresponds to the ultimate failure. An additional critical deflection (curvature) condition must be employed also. By using both the stress failure and the critical deflection conditions, the predicted load-deflection up to the ultimate failure agrees well with the measured data. Thereafter, different mechanical performances of composite archwires can be tailored before fabrication by choosing suitable constituent materials, their contents, and the archwire diameters. Several design examples have been shown in the paper.

Computer Simulation↗
PubMed2002

Macrocyclic diterpenes from Euphorbia nivulia.

The latex of Euphorbia nivulia afforded two ingol diterpenes 3,12-diacetyl-8-benzoylingol (4) and 3,12-diacetyl-7-benzoyl-8-nicotinylingol (5) along with three known ingol diterpenes 1, 2,and 3, and two known triterpenes cycloart-25-en-3beta-ol and cyclonivulinol. Their structures have been assigned on the basis of their structural data as well as their acetylated products. The diterpenes 1-5 were tested for the LPS induced PGE(2) inhibition activity.

Dinoprostone↗
PubMed2001

Quantitative radiographic analysis of fiber reinforced polymer composites.

X-ray radiographic examination of the bone fracture healing process is a widely used method in the treatment and management of patients. Medical devices made of metallic alloys reportedly produce considerable artifacts that make the interpretation of radiographs difficult. Fiber reinforced polymer composite materials have been proposed to replace metallic alloys in certain medical devices because of their radiolucency, light weight, and tailorable mechanical properties. The primary objective of this paper is to provide a comparable radiographic analysis of different fiber reinforced polymer composites that are considered suitable for biomedical applications. Composite materials investigated consist of glass, aramid (Kevlar-29), and carbon reinforcement fibers, and epoxy and polyether-ether-ketone (PEEK) matrices. The total mass attenuation coefficient of each material was measured using clinical X-rays (50 kev). The carbon fiber reinforced composites were found to be more radiolucent than the glass and kevlar fiber reinforced composites.

Biocompatible Materials↗
PubMed2001

Advanced textile composite ring for Ilizarov external fixator system.

The use of a radiolucent composite material permits easier and more accurate radiographic evaluation of the bone healing process, and results in a much lighter system. The finite element method (FEM) is employed to determine the worst possible in-service loading condition and the ring dimensions are modified accordingly. Half-ring prototypes are produced using two types of composite materials: knitted aramid fibre fabric reinforced epoxy and random short carbon (RSC) fibre reinforced epoxy. The in-plane compressive strength and axial stiffness of the complete frame are tested according to ASTM specifications. The performance is evaluated, and compared with an existing system in simulated in-service conditions.

Biomechanical Phenomena↗
PubMed2000

Reversible cardio-pulmonary changes due to adeno-tonsilar hypertrophy.

Adeno-tonsillar hypertrophy, with signs of upper airway obstruction is a common presentation in ENT clinics. Recently it is identified as a major cause of sleep apnea syndrome. Several isolated case reports of pulmonary hypertension and corpulmonale appeared in the literature. The authors report two such children aged less than 2 years with cardio-pulmonary changes occurring secondary to chronic adeno-tonsillar hypertrophy that were successfully treated with the surgical removal.

Adenoidectomy↗
PubMed2000

Treacher Collins syndrome with acute airway obstruction.

Treacher Collins syndrome presents with cranio-facial deformities of variable expressions and severity, but rarely is it associated with acute airway obstruction of such severity that it necessitates surgical intervention. The authors describe their experience with such a neonate, who presented with acute airway obstruction successfully managed with a tracheostomy. The relevant English literature is reviewed.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed2000

Drug release kinetics from polymeric films containing propranolol hydrochloride for transdermal use.

Polymeric films containing propranolol hydrochloride (PPN) were formulated and evaluated with a view to select a suitable formulation for the development of transdermal drug delivery systems. Films containing different ratios of ethyl cellulose (EC), poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP), and PPN were prepared by mercury substrate method. In vitro drug release and skin permeation studies were conducted using paddle over disk and modified Franz diffusion cell, respectively. The drug release profiles from the polymeric film indicated that the drug content in the film decreased at an apparent first-order rate, whereas the quantity of drug release was proportional to the square root of time. The release rate of PPN increased linearly with increasing drug concentration and PVP fraction in the film, but was found to be independent of film thickness. The increase in release rate may be due to leaching of hydrophilic fraction of the film former, which resulted in the formation of pores. It was also observed that the release of drug from the films followed the diffusion-controlled model at low drug concentration. A burst effect was observed initially, however, at high drug loading level, which may be due to rapid dissolution of the surface drug followed by the diffusion of the drug through the polymer network in the film. The in vitro skin permeation profiles displayed increased flux values with increase of initial drug concentration in the film, and also with the PVP content. From this study, it is concluded that the films composed of EC/PVP/PPN, 9:1:3, 8:2:2, and 8:2:3, should be selected for the development of transdermal drug delivery systems using a suitable adhesive layer and backing membrane for potential therapeutic applications.

Administration, Cutaneous↗
PubMed1999

Development of thin elastomeric composite membranes for biomedical applications.

A breakthrough has been made in blending of two immiscible biocompatible polymers to form thin transparent interpenetrating network composite membranes (CM) with exceptional improvement in properties. Two immiscible polymers, namely the biaxially drawn ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) film and polyether polyurethane (PU) were used. The fabrication included solution casting and heat compaction. During the fabrication, the CM still preserved the orientation of UHMWPE fibers but introduced the interpenetration of PU in UHMWPE film. The intimate interaction of PU with UHMWPE fibers was viewed through the transparency of CM. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) data showed the melting temperature (Tm) of UHMWPE increased by about 10 degrees C in CM and about 5 degrees C in heat-compacted membranes (HCM). Morphological observations indicated that CM presented a layered structure while HCM was a dense material without obvious void inclusions. The ultimate tensile strength and relative Young's modulus of CM are about 62 MPa and 460 MPa, respectively. They are about four times greater in strength and 150 times greater in modulus compared with those of PU. Heat compaction resulted in a membrane with nearly five times the tensile strength and 50 times the Young's modulus of PU. The engineered ultimate strain of CM is about 26%, 8% more than that of the porous UHMWPE film while about 70% of HCM, which is a 50% increase achieved through heat compaction. The tensile fracture toughness is about 93 mJ for CM and 211 mJ for HCM, two and five times that for the porous UHMWPE film, respectively. The significant modification on the properties of the heat-compacted composite may raise broad interest in using the CM to develop membrane-related devices and organ covers in biomedical applications.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1996

Comparative pharmacokinetic evaluation of compressed suppositories of diclofenac sodium in humans.

Diclofenac sodium (CAS 15307-79-6) suppositories were formulated using polyethylene glycol 4000 as the base by dispersing the drug in the molten base, congealing the mass, followed by pulverization, sieving and subsequent compression of the resultant granules. These suppositories were evaluated with respect to their pharmacokinetic behaviour in 12 healthy, male human volunteers. The results were compared with those obtained after oral administration of a commercial enteric coated tablet. Bioequivalence between rectal suppositories and commercial tablets was observed with respect to AUC0-infinity and Cmax. However, tmax differed significantly (p < 0.05) in case of rectal administration (0.625 +/- 0.065 h) compared to oral tablet (1.58 +/- 0.06 h). The relative rectal bioavailability was 107.19 +/- 3.2.

Administration, Oral↗