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Miqin Zhang & team develop chitosan-polyester blend for nerve repair
17 Jun '09
4 min read
The two materials are different and are difficult to blend, but proper mixing is crucial because imperfectly blended fibers have weak points.
Zhang and colleagues built prototype nerve guides measuring 1.5 millimeters (0.06 inches) in diameter, and between five and 15 centimeters (two to six inches) long. They tested a guide made from the chitosan-polyester blend against another biomaterial under study, polylacticcoglycolic acid, and a commercially available collagen guide.
Of the three materials, the chitosan-polyester weave showed the most consistent performance for strength, flexibility and resistance to compression under both dry and wet conditions. Under wet conditions, which the researchers say best mimics those in the body, the chitosan-polyester blend required twice as much force to push the tube halfway shut as the other biomaterial, and eight times as much force as the collagen tube.
The new material showed promise for nerve guides but would also work well for wound dressings, heart grafts, tendons, ligament, cartilage, muscle repair and other biomedical applications, Zhang said.
The research was funded by the National Science Foundation through a grant to the UW's Engineered Biomaterials Research Center. Co-authors on the paper are Richard Ellenbogen, Narayan Bhattarai, Zhensheng Li, Jonathan Gunn, Matthew Leung, Ashleigh Cooper, Dennis Edmonson and Omid Veiseh of the UW; Ming-Hong Chen of the National Yang-Ming University in Taiwan; and Yong Zhang of the National University of Singapore.
Zhang and colleagues built prototype nerve guides measuring 1.5 millimeters (0.06 inches) in diameter, and between five and 15 centimeters (two to six inches) long. They tested a guide made from the chitosan-polyester blend against another biomaterial under study, polylacticcoglycolic acid, and a commercially available collagen guide.
Of the three materials, the chitosan-polyester weave showed the most consistent performance for strength, flexibility and resistance to compression under both dry and wet conditions. Under wet conditions, which the researchers say best mimics those in the body, the chitosan-polyester blend required twice as much force to push the tube halfway shut as the other biomaterial, and eight times as much force as the collagen tube.
The new material showed promise for nerve guides but would also work well for wound dressings, heart grafts, tendons, ligament, cartilage, muscle repair and other biomedical applications, Zhang said.
The research was funded by the National Science Foundation through a grant to the UW's Engineered Biomaterials Research Center. Co-authors on the paper are Richard Ellenbogen, Narayan Bhattarai, Zhensheng Li, Jonathan Gunn, Matthew Leung, Ashleigh Cooper, Dennis Edmonson and Omid Veiseh of the UW; Ming-Hong Chen of the National Yang-Ming University in Taiwan; and Yong Zhang of the National University of Singapore.
University of Washington
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