Content |
2025: Neuronal growth in infrared irradiation accelerated photosensitive nanofibre materials
Scientists have developed multifunctional materials based on fibers coated with a layer of polymerized dopamine that stimulate the growth and development of neurons under the influence of infrared light. The obtained materials absorb infrared radiation and are controllably heated, with the maximum increase in the internal temperature of the cells being 20 ° C. Such stimulation, in turn, doubles the number of neurons with a process length of more than 80 micrometers. Since human nerves are formed precisely by the processes of neurons, the developed material can potentially be used in medicine to stimulate the growth of damaged neurons and restore innervation of organs and tissues. The results of the study, supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation (RNF), are published in the journal Smart Materials in Medicine. This was announced on March 18, 2025 by the press service of the RSF.
Various injuries or inflammatory processes have been reported to cause a person's nerves to rupture or stretch and impaired innervation of limbs or organs, i.e. damage to their connection to the central nervous system. Therefore, the development of materials that allow the growth of nerve cells is one of the tasks of regenerative medicine. Neuronal growth can be stimulated, for example, by photothermal materials that absorb light at specific wavelengths and convert it to heat. Increasing temperature promotes protein synthesis in cells and their growth. However, the introduction of photothermal nanoparticles into cells can harm - leading to impaired cellular functions and further damage. Therefore, scientists seek to obtain photothermal materials that will work outside the cells.
Scientists from the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Biophysics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Pushchino) have developed a material from nanofibers coated with polydophamine. Polydophamine is a polymer composed of dopamine molecules. It is biocompatible and biodegradable, that is, it does not disrupt the work of cells, and also effectively absorbs infrared radiation. As a template, the researchers used nylon nanofibers that mimic the structure of the extracellular matrix -- the natural environment in which nerve cells reside. This matrix was immersed in a dopamine salt solution for a day, which spontaneously polymerized (collected in long chains) on the surface of the fibers at a temperature of 37 ° C. By changing the dopamine content of the solution, the thickness of the coating can be controlled.
The researchers tested the biocompatibility of the materials obtained. To do this, substrates were made from them, on which human neuroblastoma cells were grown for three days. This is a culture of fast-growing cells derived from a tumor of the nervous system. It is often used as a model of human nervous tissue. Cell viability was dependent on the concentration of dopamine used for the coating. However, even at the highest initial concentration (0.5 milligrams per milliliter), 84% of the cells survived on the material. This suggests that composite materials are safe and do not cause mass death of nerve cells. The scientists then analyzed how the temperature in the cells on the surface of the photothermal fibers changed when exposed to infrared radiation. To do this, the authors introduced the dye rhodamine B into the cells, the brightness of the glow of which changes with a change in temperature. The proposed approach made it possible to achieve a change in intracellular temperature to 20 ° C.
The authors also tested how irradiation of nanocomposites with infrared light affects the development of nerve cells. This effect significantly accelerated the growth of neurons: the proportion of processes longer than 80 micrometers doubled, and processes 120-200 micrometers long appeared, while without radiation, the maximum length did not exceed 80 micrometers.
The obtained materials have an important possibility - they are able to produce heat when irradiated with light in the near infrared range. This is the so-called window of biological transparency - such radiation weakly interacts with living tissues and is able to penetrate into them to a depth of 10 centimeters. Therefore, on the basis of such materials, it will be possible to create implantable medical devices that can remotely stimulate the restoration of nervous tissue. Due to this, heating can be localized strictly in the right place and thermal damage to surrounding tissues can be avoided.
 | One of the areas of our research is the creation of implantable implants for neurosurgery, which allow us to connect peripheral nerves torn by injuries with the subsequent photothermal stimulation of the growth of nerve endings. We also work with bioprinting specialists to create 3D-printed tissue engineering structures that allow remote control of cellular activity. Such articles can be used both in cellular engineering to study tissue regeneration processes and in transplantology. told Olga Antonova, project manager supported by a grant from the Russian National Research Institute, candidate of biological sciences, senior researcher at the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Biophysics of the Russian Academy of Sciences |  |
2022: Synthesis of nanohybrid fibers
Russian-Czech scientific the collective synthesized biodegradable nanohybrid fibers with silver and copper in a composition that will become the basis of self-disinfecting filters to protect against covid and others viruses in public places. This was announced on February 21, 2022 by the university. MISIS
Despite numerous efforts to slow the spread of the virus, including vaccines, diagnostic technologies and developments in surveillance measures to track contacts with covid-positive patients, the rapid increase in incidence has not slowed.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the need for low-cost materials that can effectively protect people from airborne or surface viruses. Since there is still no single solution to prevent the spread of viral infections, multi-stage personal protection mechanisms are needed to block or at least slow the rate of transmission of the virus.
To solve this problem, a group of scientists from NUST MISIS (Moscow), Research Institute of Clinical and Experimental Lymphology and Research Institute of Virology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Novosibirsk) and the Central European Technological Institute (Brno, Czech Republic ) has developed a wide range of thin biodegradable nanofibers containing silver or copper.
| | Scientists of NUST "MISIS" are conducting research aimed at solving the most pressing problems facing humanity. Among them is the search for effective ways to combat the spread of coronavirus infection. One of the areas of work of the research laboratory "Inorganic Nanomaterials," headed by Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor Dmitry Shtansky, is the creation of materials for biomedical purposes. The result of a study conducted by laboratory scientists was the synthesis of biodegradable antibacterial fibers with silver or copper content, which can be used to protect against infection with viral infections, including COVID-19, - said the rector of NUST MISIS Alevtina Chernikova. | |
According to the developers, ultra-thin fibers obtained by electroforming can be used as active filter layers due to their physicochemical properties, namely low weight, small pore size, high permeability, high specific surface area (from 1 to 100 m2/g depending on fiber diameter and porosity), good pore relationship and the possibility of including active chemical particles at the nanoscale.
| | Production of one type of material involved precipitation of titanium oxide followed by implantation of silver ions into polycaprolactone nanofibers. In another case, coating the nanofibers with a layer of copper was successfully performed by magnetron sputtering. According to the results of the test, the antiviral activity, assessed by a widely used method with the cultivation of VeroE6 cells, was the greatest for polycaprolactone-copper samples. Samples coated with titanium oxide with implanted silver did not show antiviral activity, "said Elizaveta Permyakova, co-author of the study, researcher at the Inorganic Nanomaterials laboratory at NUST MISIS. | |
As scientists suggest, this difference in the effectiveness of nanofibers containing copper and silver may be due to the different concentration of ions released from the samples: 80 μg/l/day for Cu2 + versus 15 μg/l/day for Ag.
According to the developers, the high antiviral activity of copper nanofibers opens up a good opportunity to prepare inexpensive self-disinfecting materials to protect against covid. They can be used in air filtration and for the production of face masks that do not require washing and disinfection.
A rough estimate of the cost structure for the production of polycaprolactone-copper nanofiber masks showed that it would cost $0.28 to make one face mask.
The scientific work was carried out within the framework of the project of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (No. 20-52-26020).
See also
| The site content is translated by machine translation software powered by PROMT. The machine-translated articles are not always perfect and may contain errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. Read original article If you find inaccuracies or errors in the results of machine translation, please write to editor@tadviser.ru. We will make every effort to correct them as soon as possible. |