Level D· Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studiesAnimal StudyEurope PMCOpen access

Highly piezoelectric, biodegradable, and flexible amino acid nanofibers for medical applications

Chorsi MT., Le TT., Lin F., Vinikoor T., Das R., Stevens JF.

Animal Study, published in Sci Adv (2023) — summary generated from the PubMed abstract.

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Level D· Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studiesEvidence level of this study

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

  • Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
  • Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
  • Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
  • Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
  • Emerging · Emerging topic under active research
Read the A–D evidence level guide

This page is generated from the PubMed record. The Thai description is an automated summary of bibliographic fields and the abstract, not a full translation, and is not medical advice.

Study type
Animal Study
Journal
Sci Adv (2023)
Reported sample size
—
Source database
Europe PMC
PMID
37315129
PMCID
PMC10266740
DOI
10.1126/sciadv.adg6075
Citations
75

Abstract (original English)

Amino acid crystals are an attractive piezoelectric material as they have an ultrahigh piezoelectric coefficient and have an appealing safety profile for medical implant applications. Unfortunately, solvent-cast films made from glycine crystals are brittle, quickly dissolve in body fluid, and lack crystal orientation control, reducing the overall piezoelectric effect. Here, we present a material processing strategy to create biodegradable, flexible, and piezoelectric nanofibers of glycine crystals embedded inside polycaprolactone (PCL). The glycine-PCL nanofiber film exhibits stable piezoelectric performance with a high ultrasound output of 334 kPa [under 0.15 voltage root-mean-square (Vrms)], which outperforms the state-of-the-art biodegradable transducers. We use this material to fabricate a biodegradable ultrasound transducer for facilitating the delivery of chemotherapeutic drug to the brain. The device remarkably enhances the animal survival time (twofold) in mice-bearing orthotopic glioblastoma models. The piezoelectric glycine-PCL presented here could offer an excellent platform not only for glioblastoma therapy but also for developing medical implantation fields.

What this study does not prove

  • • This study does not prove SVF is an approved treatment or a replacement for standard care.
  • • This is preclinical work; animal or laboratory results cannot be applied to humans.

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

How we grade evidence
BrainAnimalsMiceGlioblastomaAmino AcidsGlycineNanofibers

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