Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) hold great promise for regenerative medicine and transplantation therapy due to their self-renewal and pluripotent properties. We report that 2D thin film scaffolds composed of biocompatible polymer grafted carbon nanotubes (CNTs), can selectively differentiate human embryonic stem cells into neuron cells while maintaining excellent cell viability. According t...

We use confocal microscopy to study the three-dimensional (3D) structure of colloidal crystals formed by poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-co-(acrylic acid) microgels of diameter 1.0-1.5 μm. The confocal images are tracked to locate particle positions in 3D, which are used to compute pair-correlation functions g(r), bond order parameters, and structure factors s(q). We find that the structure remains...

Enzymatically degradable semi-interpenetrating polymer networks (edsIPNs) were explored for their biocompatibility and ability to promote new scleral tissue growth, as a means of reinforcing the posterior wall of the eye. The edsIPNs comprised thermoresponsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-acrylic acid), customizable peptide crosslinkers cleavable by matrix metalloproteinases, and interpenetrat...

N-Acylated poly(aminoester) (NPAE) macromonomers were synthesised via spontaneous copolymerisation of 2-oxazolines and acrylic acid. Inherent quantitative introduction of α-vinyl end-groups was observed, which enabled the preparation of a series of well-defined NPAE comb polymers through redox-initiated RAFT polymerisation. Investigations of the thermal properties of the comb polymers revealed ...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the effects of copolymer of acrylic acid and maleic acid (Poly[AA-co-MA]) and calcium hypochlorite (Ca(OCl)2) on root canal dentin using scanning electron microscope (SEM). MATERIALS AND METHODS Twenty-four single-rooted teeth were instrumented and the apical and coronal thirds of each root were removed, leaving the 5 mm middle thirds, which were then separated into two...

In the present work, a novel interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) hydrogel composed of crosslinked chitosan and poly(acryl acid) was prepared by crosslinking using glutaraldehyde. The model drug, cis-platin, was loaded into the resulted IPN hydrogel. Water absorption of the hydrogel could be switched on and off swiftly by control of pH of the surrounding environment. Therefore, the synthesize...

This paper first achieved a triplet “backbone molecular structure−Ca responsivity−synthesis methodology” multiscale study in the field of chemistry through preparing a series of poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) based pH-responsive brush copolymers (i.e., poly(methyl methacrylate (MMA)-co-2-(2-bromoisobutyryloxy)ethyl methacrylate (BIEM)-graf t-acrylic acid (AA)) with three backbone composition profiles...

We design polystyrene-poly(N'-isopropylacrylamide-co-acrylic acid) core-shell particles that exhibit dynamically tunable scattering. We show that under normal solvent conditions the shell is nearly index-matched to pure water, and the particle scattering is dominated by Rayleigh scattering from the core. As the temperature or salt concentration increases, both the scattering cross-section and t...