ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Chemical engineering approach to regenerative medicine

Giuseppe Perale, Filippo Rossi, Pietro Veglianese, and Maurizio Masi

Department of Chemistry, Materials, and Chemical Engineering “Giulio Natta”, Politecnico di Milano, via Mancinelli 7, 20131 Milano, Italy

E-mail: filippo.rossi@mail.polimi.it

Abstract: The intrinsically multi-factorial pathological trend of spinal cord injury is probably the most important reason behind the absence of efficient therapeutic strategies. Therefore, recent studies suggest the use of new tools combining the delivery of both cells and drugs. Systems which are able to perform multiple controlled delivery of different therapeutic agents have gained particularly strong interest. Hence, in order to avoid trial and error approaches, several studies were performed following the classic chemical engineering multiscale approach: tuning microchemistry to manipulate macro properties in order to satisfy specific medical needs as injectability, low stress on target tissues, ability to retain liquids, capability of carrying living cells, and possibility to control the delivery of drugs. In this framework we focused on injectable agarose-carbomer based hydrogels applying he results of our studies performed in the past two years: in vitro biocompatibility, physical chemical studies, drug delivery transport phenomena investigation, and in vivo biocompatibility in uninjured Brainbow mice.

Keywords: hydrogel – regenerative medicine – spinal cord injury repair

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.2478/s11696-011-0111-5

Chemical Papers 66 (2) 108–119 (2012)