Progress in the field of artificial biomaterials
In modern transplantology, much attention is paid to artificial implants, tissues and organs. One of the problems of their creation is the development of synthetic materials that are as close as possible in their characteristics to fabrics of natural origin.
Scientists from Australia and Korea, led by Geoffrey M. Spinks and Seon Jeong Kim, have developed a new porous biomaterial similar in properties to soft tissues of natural origin. The novelty consists of DNA molecules and carbon nanotubes forming a strong network.
The soft tissues of the body have relatively high strength due to the extracellular matrix – protein fibrils connecting cells. Differences in the composition and morphology of matrix proteins provide a wide range of degrees of stiffness of tissues – vessels, muscles, tendons, skin, etc. Synthetic porous materials used for the manufacture of implants and as matrices for the cultivation of artificial tissues and organs have insufficient strength.
The described development is designed to solve this problem. The backbone of the new material is a network of strong carbon nanotubes with a diameter of 50 nm, "wrapped" in artificially synthesized DNA strands. In an ionized solution, the material becomes gel-like and demonstrates high elasticity, and under special conditions it can even be pulled into threads. In the dried state, the material retains porosity due to nanotubes, and soaking in a solution of calcium chloride leads to the formation of additional bonds between DNA strands, which further increases the strength of the fibers. The resulting material resembles collagen.
Another important feature of the novelty is good electrical conductivity, which will allow it to be used in electrodes of mechanical manipulators, sensors and batteries for biomedical devices. In addition, scientists have had the opportunity to study in more detail a number of metabolic processes associated with changes in the electrical charge of tissues.
Article by Geoffrey M. Spinks et al. Tough Supersoft Sponge Fibers with Tunable Stiffness from a DNA Self-Assembly Technique published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition
Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru based on ScienceDaily: Progress Towards Artificial Tissue?
25.05.2009