Na clínica médica de bovinos, os desvios prematuros de pênis são citados como importantes enfermidades, acometendo touros de diferentes raças, idades e aptidões, dificultando ou inabilitando o touro à cópula. Entretanto, dependendo do desvio, as técnicas tradicionais de correção têm culminado em resultados questionáveis. Em consequência desses inconvenientes, métodos alternativos utilizando implantes de biomateriais têm sido alvo de estudos. Neste sentido, objetivou-se nesta pesquisa realizar um estudo epidemiológico das principais enfermidades que acometem o aparelho reprodutor dos touros e avaliar dois métodos cirúrgicos utilizando a tela de polipropileno e de quitosana, como biomateriais na correção do desvio prematuro do pênis do touro. Inicialmente, realizou-se um estudo epidemiológico retrospectivo, referente aos anos de 1982 a 2007 e utilizando um universo de 12.320 touros de diferentes raças e idades, das enfermidades de importância cirúrgica que acometem o aparelho reprodutor. Essas informações foram obtidas em visita às propriedades após aplicação de um questionário estruturado fechado e exame clínico dos touros apontados como possíveis portadores de injúrias no aparelho reprodutor. Também foi utilizado no estudo epidemiológico um banco de dados contendo informações zootécnicas catalogadas em diferentes anos por profissionais que atuam na área da reprodução. Por meio deste estudo, realizado em diversas regiões do estado de Goiás, foi possível diagnosticar as doenças responsáveis pela perda ou deficiência da integridade do aparelho reprodutor de touros, além das raças e idades mais acometidas de acordo com cada doença. Os aspectos epidemiológicos avaliados indicaram ocorrência expressiva de touros portadores de enfermidades do aparelho reprodutor passíveis de tratamento cirúrgico, sugerindo etiologia multifatorial. O manejo e a característica racial dos animais foram os principais fatores predisponentes relacionados à etiopatogenia das enfermidades da genitália dos touros, sendo que as de maior relevância foram diagnosticadas no prepúcio e na glande. Na segunda etapa realizou-se estudo anatômico do ligamento apical do pênis do touro, certificando-se do seu real posicionamento no corpo peniano. Posteriormente, procurou-se por meio de duas diferentes abordagens cirúrgicas, induzir experimentalmente a enfermidade. Para isto, foram utilizados 24 touros divididos em dois grupos experimentais, conforme metodologia cirúrgica utilizada. Após pleno domínio da técnica cirúrgica mais adequada para promover a indução do desvio prematuro do pênis do touro, foram utilizados 21 bovinos com idade de 18 a 20 meses, para indução da enfermidade, sendo num segundo momento, avaliados o tipo e grau do desvio peniano apresentado pelos animais. Posteriormente, procurou-se corrigir o desvio utilizando como implantes filme de quitosana e a tela de polipropileno, como biomateriais. Avaliações clínicas, testes de comportamento sexual e capacidade de cópula e exames histopatológicos do sítio de implante, foram utilizados para avaliação da eficiência dos métodos de correção cirúrgicos propostos. Tanto a tela de polipropileno como o filme de quitosana mostraram-se ineficazes na correção do desvio prematuro do pênis do touro, tendo o filme de quitosana demonstrado ser menos irritante ao tecido, tendo em vista a resposta inflamatória discreta, ausência de reação eosinofílica e células gigantes, quando comparado à tela de polipropileno.

Synthetic materials are the leading choice for the correction of defects in abdominal wall, but the formation of adhesions are a problem encountered when placing implants in contact with the abdominal viscera. With In order to avoid its formation, various materials and mechanisms are used in an attempt to prevent contact with peritoneal surfaces of the prostheses. In this sense, we investigated the possibility of the hydrogel poly (2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (polyHEMA) coating a face of polypropylene mesh and thereby preventing peritoneal adhesion in dogs and rats, and, in the latter species, also performed a histological evaluation of implanted materials. For this, an abdominal defect was created in the rectus abdominis of 16 bitches were divided into two groups of eight animals and the defect was corrected with screen polypropylene and polypropylene mesh coated with hydrogel, respectively. The presence of adhesions was evaluated after 20 days by laparoscopy. As to rats, the surgical procedure was similar and the evaluations were performed at 15 and 30 days, with euthanasia and collection of fragments for histology with picrosirius red staining and HE The hydrogel coating the polyHEMA polypropylene mesh implanted in the abdominal wall prevented completely visceral adhesions and omentum remaining on the surface the screen when compared to polypropylene mesh in dogs and isolated rats. Was found greater amount of adhesions in the suture zone in the group a mesh coated with polyHEMA. The physical structure of the biomaterial interfered the organization and persistence of tissue response, but not in the same type.

Introduction: The demand for aesthetic orthodontic appliances, namely clear aligners, has increased in recent years. However, the cytotoxic potential of these materials needs to be evaluated to ensure their safe use. This work intends to evaluate the in vitro cytotoxicity of Invisalign® and Spark™ aligners in 3T3-L1, MRC-5 and Vero cell lines.Materials and Methods: Conditioned media by the refereed aligners were prepared and cells were exposed for 24 and 48 hours. The metabolic activity was determined through the MTT assay, the cell viability, types of death and changes in the cell cycle by flow cytometry and the cell morphology evaluated by staining with May-Grünwald Giemsa.Results: Considering the Invisalign® conditioned medium, the Vero cell line revealed a significant decrease in metabolic activity at all concentrations at 24 hours of exposure and at 100%, 50%, 25% and 12.5% concentrations after 48 hours of incubation. Comparing the two aligners, Invisalign® caused a greater reduction in metabolic activity than Spark™. The Vero cell line, when exposed to the Invisalign® conditioned medium also shows a decrease in the percentage of living cells and an increase in cells undergoing apoptosis and late apoptosis/necrosis. When comparing the two aligners, there is a significant increase in cells in late apoptosis/necrosis in the Invisalign® group. The MRC-5 cell line, when exposed to the Invisalign® conditioned medium, shows a decrease in the percentage of living cells and an increase in cells in apoptosis. There were no statistically significant differences in the cell cycle evaluation of 3T3-L1 and Vero cells. The evaluation of cell morphology in these two lines revealed morphological characteristics of apoptosis and necrosis.Discussion: The cytotoxic effect depends on the cell line and the type of material. The Invisalign® aligner caused significant reductions in metabolic activity and cell viability, while SparkTM caused a significant reduction only in metabolic activity. The results obtained support that the aligners´ components are released into the medium and are responsible for the observed biological effect. Differences in the constituent materials of the two brands may account for the increased cytotoxicity of Invisalign®.Conclusion: Both brands have biological effects on the studied cell lines, however, the Invisalign® aligner has greater cytototoxicity than SparkTM. More studies are needed to investigate possible local and systemic effects, to ensure safety in the clinical use of these devices.

Direct pulp capping consists of a procedure in which a material is directly placed over the exposed pulp to maintain dental vitality. Although still widely used in clinical practice, previous in vitro studies found that the biomaterial Life® presented high cytotoxicity, leading to cell death. This study aimed to identify the Life® constituents responsible for its cytotoxic effects on odontoblast-like cells (MDPC-23). Aqueous medium conditioned with Life® was subjected to liquid-liquid extraction with ethyl acetate. After solvent removal, cells were treated with residues isolated from the organic and aqueous fractions. MTT and Trypan blue assays were carried out to evaluate the metabolic activity and cell death. The organic phase residue promoted a significant decrease in metabolic activity and increased cell death. On the contrary, no cytotoxic effects were observed with the mixture from the aqueous fraction. Spectroscopic and spectrometric methods allowed the identification of the toxic compounds. A mixture of the regioisomers ortho, para, and meta of N-ethyl-toluenesulfonamide was identified as the agent responsible for the toxicity of biomaterial Life® in MDPC-23 cells. These findings contribute to improving biomaterial research and development.

The use of individualized titanium meshes has been referred to in scientific literature since 2011. There are many advantages to its use, however, the main complications are related to early or late exposures. As some aspects such as its surface properties have been pointed out to influence the soft tissue response, this study was designed to compare the surface characteristics of three commercially available individualized titanium meshes between them and according to the manufacturer's specifications. The results from the scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and the contact profilometry measurements were analyzed and cross-checked. It was discovered that, the BoneEasy's post-processing superficial treatment was more refined, as it delivers the mesh with the lowest Ra value, 0.61 ± 0.14 µm, due to the applied electropolishing. On the other hand, the Yxoss CBR® mesh from ReOss® was sandblasted, presenting an extremely rough surface with a Ra of 6.59 ± 0.76 µm.

Staphylococcus epidermidis has emerged as one of the major nosocomial pathogens associated with infections of implanted medical devices. The initial adhesion of these organisms to the surface of biomaterials is assumed to be an important stage in their colonization. The main objective of this work is to assess the influence of surface features on the adhesion of S. epidermidis to Ag-TiCN coatings deposited by dc reactive magnetron sputtering. The structural results obtained by x-ray diffraction show that the coatings crystallize in a B1-NaCl crystal structure typical of TiC0.3N0.7. The increase of Ag content promoted the formation of Ag crystalline phases. According to the results obtained with atomic force microscopy, a decrease on the surface roughness of the films from 39 to 7 nm is observed as the Ag content increases from 0 to 15 at.%. Surface energy results show that the increase of Ag promotes an increase in hydrophobicity. Bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation on coatings were assessed by the enumeration of the number of viable cells. The results showed that the surface with lower roughness and higher hydrophobicity leads to greater bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation, highlighting that surface morphology and hydrophobicity rule the colonization of materials.

A number of systems based on synthetic molecules, among them cationic liposomes and poly(ethylene imine)-based polymers, have been proposed as delivery vehicles for nucleic acids. Some of these systems have even reached the market, ensuring efficient and transient transfection levels in a variety of cell types. However, toxicity issues have limited their application in vivo. In this context, chitosan, a biocompatible and biodegradable polysaccharide, has been proposed as a promising alternative for the delivery of nucleic acid-based molecules. Here we present an overview of the state of the art of chitosan-based vectors for nucleic acid delivery and the most recent data on the in vivo testing of the proposed systems. We additionally express our view on the barriers that might be hampering the translation of this knowledge into clinical practice and the challenges that need to be fulfilled for these promising vehicles to reach patients.

The occlusion of the inferior lacrimal punctum limits tear drainage and thus keeps it over the ocular surface, prolongs lubrication and minimizes the need of ocular lubricants. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of n-butyl-cyanoacrylate and 2-octyl-cyanoacrylate adhesives in the occlusion of the inferior lacrimal punctum and canaliculi of dogs and their clinical repercussions over 180 days. Eleven dogs, were divided into two groups: occlusion with n-butyl-cyanoacrylate (GB, n=6) and with 2-octyl-cyanoacrylate (GO, n=5). Tear production, blepharospasm, ocular discharge, epiphora and conjunctival hyperemia were analyzed before the procedure and on days (T) 3,7,15, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, 150 and 180 after the procedure. Tear production of GB was significantly higher at T90 (P=0.0282) than its control. Variations between days showed that T7 (P=0.0069) and T180 (P=0.0207) varied significantly from T0. In the GO group, when treatment was compared to control, T15 (P<0.001) was significantly different from the rest. Variations between days showed that T15 was significantly different than T0 (P=0.0044), T3 (P=0.0234), T60 (P=0.0207) and T90 (P=0.0482). No significant difference was observed between the treatment groups at any given time. It was concluded that both adhesives were effective in occluding lacrimal drainage for long periods and could thus be considered as therapeutic options in treating animals with lacrimal deficiency

The study aimed to evaluate biocompatibility, osteoconduction and osseointegration of a pasty composite of hydroxyapatite (20%) and lignin (80%) as a promoter of metal implant and bone tissue integration. An intramedullary Schanz pin was implanted in both tibias of fifteen bitches. In the left tibia, the pin was coated with the biomaterial at the time of surgery. Marrow cavity was also filled with the biomaterial. Right limb did not receive the biomaterial, then constituting the control group. Tibias were harvested from five animals at 8, 60 and 150 days after surgery; three of them were analyzed by histological and biomechanical assessment and the two remaining tibias by X-ray diffraction. Results showed that the biomaterial is biocompatible, with osteoconductivity and osseointegration properties. Histological analysis and diffractograms showed the presence of hydroxyapatite in samples in all periods, although the presence of organic material of low crystallinity was variable. There was no statistical difference in the forces required for removal of the biocompatibility, osteoconductivity and osseointegration, it was not able to promote a better intramedullary pin anchorage.

ABSTRACT: Often fractures of long bones in horses are comminuted and form bone gaps, which represent a major challenge for the fixation of these fractures by loss of contact between the fragments. Bone grafts help in treating this kind of fracture and synthetic materials have been gaining ground because of the limitations of autologous and heterologous grafts. In this study were performed compressive non destructive test in 10 bones with complete cross-bone gap in mid-diaphyseal of the third metacarpal bone of horses. Using a mechanism of "crossing" the 10 bones were used in the three groups (control, castor oil poliuretane and chitosan) according to the filling material. After the test with maximum load of 1000N bone had a gap filled by another material and the test was repeated. Deformations caused on the whole bone, plate and bone tissue near and distant of gap were evaluated, using strain gauges adhered to the surface at these locations. There was a reduction in bone deformation from 14% (control) to 3,5% and 4,8% by filling the gap with Chitosan and castor oil respectively, and a reduction of strain on the plate of 96% and 85% by filling gap with chitosan and castor respectively. An increase in intensity and direction of deformations occurred in bone near to gap after its filling; however, there was no difference in bone deformations occurring far the gap.