Osteoporosis is a public health problem, with bone loss being the main consequence. Hydroxyapatite (HA) has been largely used as a bioceramic to stimulate bone growth. In our work, a cerium-containing HA (Ce-HA) has been proposed and its effects on the antimicrobial and bone-inducing properties were investigated. The synthesis of the materials occurred by the suspension–precipitation method (SPM). The XRD (X-ray Diffraction) confirmed the crystalline phase, and the Rietveld refinement confirmed the crystallization of HA and Ce-HA in a hexagonal crystal structure in agreement with ICSD n° 26205. Characterizations by FT-IR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy), XPS (X-ray Photoemission Spectroscopy), and FESEM-EDS (Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope-Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy) confirmed the presence of cerium (Ce³⁺ and Ce⁴⁺). The antibacterial activity of Has was evaluated against Staphylococcus aureus 25,923 and Escherichia coli 25,922 strains, which revealed that the material has antimicrobial properties and the cytotoxicity assay indicated that Ce-containing HA was classified as non-toxic. The effects of Ce-HA on bone repair, after application in bone defects in the tibia of female rats with osteoporosis induced by ovariectomy (OVX), were evaluated. After 15 and 30 days of implantation, the samples were analyzed by Raman, histology and X-ray microtomography. The results showed that the animals that had the induced bone defects filled with the Ce-HA materials had more expressive bone neoformation than the control group.

Here, butylene adipate-co-terephthalate/polypyrrole with nanohydroxyapatite (PBAT/PPy/nHAp) scaffolds were fabricated and characterized. The electrospinning process was carried out using 12 kV, a needle of 23 G, an infusion pump set at 0.3 mL/h, and 10 cm of distance. Afterwards, nHAp was directly electrodeposited onto PBAT/PPy scaffolds using a classical three-electrode apparatus. For in vivo assays (comet assay, acute and chronic micronucleus), 60 male albino Wistar rats with 4 groups were used in each test (n = 5): PBAT/PPy; PBAT/PPy/nHAp; positive control (cyclophosphamide); and the negative control (distilled water). Peripheral blood samples were collected from the animals to perform the comet test after 4 h (for damage) and 24 h (for repair). In the comet test, it was shown that the scaffolds did not induce damage to the % DNA tail and neither for tail length. After the end of 48 h (for acute micronucleus) and 72 h (for chronic micronucleus), bone marrow was collected from each rat to perform the micronucleus test. All of the produced scaffolds did not present genotoxic effects, providing strong evidence for the biological application of PBAT/PPy/nHAp scaffolds.

Biomateriais são substâncias de origem sintética ou natural que substituem e/ou estimulam sistemas biológicos que deixaram de ter suas funções, como exemplo a restauração de funções teciduais. Tendo em vista o potencial antioxidante da norbixina (carotenoide dicarboxílico encontrado na Bixa orellana L.) e de biodegradabilidade e biocompatibilidade do polihidroxibutirato (PHB) (polímero natural sintetizado a partir de bactérias), objetivou-se preparar uma membrana a partir destes dois constituintes com a adição do reagente etilenoglicol (PHB/norbixina/etilenoglicol) para avaliar seus efeitos genotóxico por meio do teste de micronúcleo. Para este estudo, 15 ratos foram divididos em 3 grupos: A - a membrana foi introduzida no peritônio dos animais através de uma laparotomia; B - apenas uma laparotomia com água destilada; C - injeção de ciclofosfamida em dose única de 50 mg / kg por via intraperitoneal. Foi coletado material de medula óssea de cada rato para realizar o teste de micronúcleo. Em conclusão, o teste de micronúcleo sugere que a membrana não é genotóxica.