Self-reinforced Calcium Phosphate Cement Inspired by Sea Cucumber Dermis

A composite bone cement based onα-TCP with self-reinforcing characteristics is prepared by compounding cellulose whiskers and polyvinyl alcohol in different proportions.In this system,we are inspired by the sea cucumber,which can alter the stiffness of their inner dermis reversibly.Through the formation of hydrogen bonds between the hydroxyl groups on the cellulose whiskers and PVA,the bone cement matrix can be strengthened during the curing process of cement.In the process of bone cement blending,there is more water,the hydrogen bond connection is destroyed,so the slurry has better fluidity at this time.As the hydration of the bone cement progresses,the reduction of the water phase leads to the formation of a permeable network structure of hydrogen bond connections between the whiskers.The dual-phase action of PVA and whiskers greatly increases the mechanical strength of the bone cement system(5.5 to 23.8 MPa),while the presence of polyvinyl alcohol improves the toughness of the bone cement system.This work was supposed to explore whether the chemoresponsive materials can be adapted to biomedical materials,for example,bone repair.

Anesthetic Action of Volatile Anesthetics by Using Paramecium as a Model

Although empirically well understood in their clinical administration, volatile anesthetics are not yet well comprehended in their mechanism studies. A major conundrum emerging from these studies is that there is no validated model to assess the presumed candidate sites of the anesthetics. We undertook this study to test the hypothesis that the single-celled Paramecium could be anesthetized and served as a model organism in the study of anesthetics. We assessed the motion of Paramecium cells with Expert Vision system and the chemoresponse of Paramecium cells with T-maze assays in the presence of four different volatile anesthetics, including isoflurane, sevoflurane, enflurane and ether. Each of those volatiles was dissolved in buffers to give drug concentrations equal to 0.8, 1.0, and 1.2 EC50, respectively, in clinical practice. We could see that after application of volatile anesthetics, the swimming of the Paramecium cells was accelerated and then suppressed, or even stopped eventually, and the index of the chemoresponse of the Paramecium cells （denoted as Iche） was decreased. All of the above impacts were found in a concentration-dependent fashion. The biphasic effects of the clinical concentrations of volatile anesthetics on Paramecium simulated the situation of high species in anesthesia, and the inhibition of the chemoresponse also indicated anesthetized. In conclusion, the findings in our studies suggested that the single-celled Paramecium could be anesthetized with clinical concentrations of volatile anesthetics and therefore be utilized as a model organism to study the mechanisms of volatile anesthetics.