Biomaterials constituted of bacterial cellulose and chimeric peptides: application in the tissue regeneration

• Grant number: 18/16946-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: February 01, 2019
• End date: July 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Biomedical Engineering - Bioengineering
• Principal Investigator: Reinaldo Marchetto
• Grantee: Daniela Cervelle Zancanela
• Host Institution: Instituto de Química (IQ). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araraquara. Araraquara , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Bacterial cellulose is an extremely versatile biopolymer with a wide variety of applications. Due to its considerable mechanical resistance, biocompatibility and high purity, in addition to its nanometric structure, bacterial cellulose can be used in medicine as temporary replacement of epithelial tissue in cases of burns, ulcers, grafts or lesions. In addition to being able to be applied as a bio-curative carrier of drugs among other purposes. In this context, the present project seeks the development of a temporary dressing based on bacterial cellulose functionalized with chimeric peptides, containing the RGD and KTTKS sequences found in several extracellular matrix proteins. RGD, is the minimal sequence capable of stimulating cell adhesion in fibronectins and KTTKS has the ability to trigger cellular processes of induction of extracellular matrix synthesis, as well as stimulate the expression of collagen (type I and type III) and fibronectin. It is believed that the insertion of this sequence into a support such as bacterial cellulose results in a biomaterial that acts with great efficiency in the process of regeneration of cutaneous tissue.