A new type of polypeptide(poly(-benzyl-L-glutamate)(PBLG))modified hydroxyapatite(HA)/poly(L-lactide)(PLLA)nanocomposites(PBLG-g-HA/PLLA)were prepared by the solvent-mixing method,and their mechanical and thermal properties were investigated.The tensile test showed that the mechanical properties of PBLG-g-HA/PLLA nanocomposites were better than that of PLLA,even a 0.3 wt%content of PBLG-g-HA in the nanocomposites could make the tensile strength 12%higher than that of the neat PLLA sample,and the tensile modulus was about 17%higher than that of the PLLA sample.The thermal gravimetric analysis(TGA)showed that the PBLG-g-HA/PLLA composites have better thermal stability than the PLLA sample.The differential scanning calorimetry(DSC)was used to characterize the effect of PBLG-g-HA on the crystallization of PLLA.The isothermal crystallization behavior showed that the half crystallization time(t1/2)of PBLG-g-HA/PLLA was much shorter than that of the PLLA sample.When the PBLG-g-HA content was 10%,t1/2 was only 18.7 min,while t1/2 of the PLLA sample was 61.4 min.The results showed that the PBLG-g-HA worked as a nucleating agent and enhanced the crystallization speed of PLLA.
Intelligent polymers or stimuli-responsive polymers may exhibit distinct transitions in physical-chemical properties, including conformation, polarity, phase structure and chemical composition in response to changes in environmental stimuli. Due to their unique 'intelligent' characteristics, stimuli-sensitive polymers have found a wide variety of applications in biomedical and nanotechnological fields. This review focuses on the recent developments in biomedical application of intelligent polymer systems, such as intelligent hydrogel systems, intelligent drug delivery systems and intelligent molecular recognition systems. Also, the possible future directions for the application of these intelligent polymer systems in the biomedical field are presented.
Hydroxyapatite/poly（L-lactide） （HA/PLLA） nanocomposites were prepared by the solvent mixing method. The isothermal crystallization behavior was studied by differential scanning calorimetry （DSC） and polarized optical microscopy （POM）. The results show that the crystallization behavior of HA/PLLA composites was strongly affected by the content of HA and crystallization temperature, and the addition of HA could promote nucleation and enhance the crystallization rate. When isothermal crystallization was carried out at 110℃, the HA/PLLA nanocomposite with 1% HA content crystallized most rapidly among all the composites and the half crystallization time was only 1.0 min. Banded spherulites were observed for the HA/PLLA composites, but no banded spherulites were seen in the crystals of PLLA under the same condition.
To increase the in vivo stability of polycation gene carriers,a pH-sensitive shielding system,γ-benzyl L-glutamate-co-glutamate acid polymer(PGA(60)(60 refers to the molar ratio of glutamate acid in the polymer)),was synthesized and characterized.PGA(60) showed pH sensitivity at about pH 6.0.PGA(60) shielded the positive charge of DNA/PEI(1:1) complexes.Gel retardation assay showed that no DNA-strand exchange with PGA(60) occurred after PGA(60) was added to DNA/PEI complexes at different proportions.MTT cytotoxicity tests demonstrated that neither PGA(60) nor DNA/PEI/PGA(60) ternary complexes had cytotoxicity at the test concentration.The transfection efficiency was improved when the positive charge was partly shielded by PGA(60).Because of the charge repulsion between the surface of cells and ternary complex particles,there was almost no transfection efficiency when the zeta potential of ternary complexes turned to negative.Because of the suitable pH sensitive range,PGA(60) may be a potential shielding system for polycation gene carriers to be used in vivo.
