New Smart Materials for Tissue Engineering Produced in Saratov

Researchers of Saratov University have developed a laser technology to produce structures in the form of composite layers based on carbon nanotubes and biopolymers.

Such structures are aimed to be used in devices and implants for the cardiovascular system. During their study, the researchers identified the optimal parameters of laser action within which composite biopolymers are formed, also they conduct electrical impulses and their layers have mechanical hardness of over 100 MPa.

The article about the results of the research team of Saratov State University, the National Research University of Electronic Technology, and I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University was published in the Composite Structures.

The key advantages of the formed biopolymers include the ability to provide a normal level of hemolysis when interacting with erythrocytes and high biocompatibility with endothelial cells lining the inner surface of blood vessels. According to the head of the study, Chair of the SSU Department of Radiotechnology and Electrodynamics Olga Glukhova, the new materials can be used to produce smart coatings for surfaces of cardiovascular implants in contact with blood, for example, blood pumps.

‘Here the word “smart” is understood in the well-known meaning of “smart”. This material acquires such property due to its controlled structure, characterised by a bimodal pore distribution. Small pores, 1-5 microns in size, are involved in the formation of new blood vessels and supply with nerve cells. In turn, large pores, 100-200 microns in size, are involved in cell growth and division. It should be noted that the pore size can be “set” by selecting the sizes of single-walled carbon tubes and their beams in the initial dispersion, from which a solid nanomaterial with a branched nanostructure is formed by laser action. Pore size control is additionally provided by calculating the threshold energy density of laser pulses based on the nonlinear optical interaction of radiation with single-walled carbon nanotubes,’ explained Olga Glukhova.

Thus, the structure and properties of the nanomaterial being created are “set” – as the result of long-term numerical experiments, the sizes of nanotubes and their structure as well as the wavelength of the laser irradiating them are revealed. The procedures are carried out using modern quantum simulation and high-performance computing methods. The next stage includes the process of synthesizing nanomaterials based on theoretical results. The final phase is biological and medical research.

The experts emphasize that they continue working on new smart materials for tissue engineering, in neuronal proliferation in particular, developing new drug delivery systems, and producing artificial muscles to solve the problems of modern bionics.

The results of the research carried out in this area formed the basis of the publication posted on the pages of the Molecules journal. Using a combination of various methods of mathematical modelling, the research team of Professor Olga Glukhova evaluated the mechanical and electronic properties of a composite based on two graphene flakes and DPPC phospholipid molecules located between them.

‘Phospholipids, which make up a third of all lipids in human blood, are used in various drug delivery systems but when they enter the bloodstream such systems are under abnormally high stress. To protect medicinal carriers from dangerous external influences, graphene is used, which is the most durable material known today. We study a composite which is a layer of phospholipid molecules enclosed between graphene layers. The strength of such a layered polymer system was estimated using “virtual nanoindentation” and the numerical experiment based on the method of molecular dynamics,’ said Olga Glukhova.

The method we used are as follows: a nanoindenter in the form of a carbon nanotube with a time step of 0.0001 nanoseconds was brought closer to the surface of the study object, inducing structural changes in it. As the result of the experiment, it was found that on such exposure the area of maximum local stresses is concentrated on graphene atoms, which protect phospholipid molecules from possible destruction by this means.

The SSU professor added that the effects of “hardening” of phospholipid by graphene layers which were determined by the researchers can be used not only for the development of a new drug delivery system but for the production of the new generation electrochemical biosensors.

Text by Alexandra Golovacheva
Translated by Lyudmila Yefremova

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