Ricerc@Sapienza

The chapter “A History of Biomaterials” at the start of this
book documents the development and design of indwelling
materials for medical and dental purposes. The primary
design criteria in the choice of materials were pragmatic and
based on the necessary mechanical properties required to
fashion a functional device. Orthopedic implants require
strong materials for load bearing, articulating surfaces such
as joints require durability and resistance to wear, stents and
shunts require flexibility and patency, and sutures require a

Sustained pulmonary delivery of tobramycin from microparticles composed of drug/polymer nanocomplexes offers several advantages against traditional delivery methods. Namely, in patients with cystic fibrosis, microparticle delivery can protect the tobramycin being delivered from strong mucoadhesive interactions, thus avoiding effects on its diffusion toward the infection site. Polymeric ion-pair complexes were obtained starting from two synthetic polyanions, through impregnation of their solid dissociated forms with tobramycin in aqueous solution.

In Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the ferric uptake regulator (Fur) protein controls both metabolism and virulence in response to iron availability. Differently from other bacteria, attempts to obtain fur deletion mutants of P. aeruginosa failed, leading to the assumption that Fur is an essential protein in this bacterium. By investigating a P. aeruginosa conditional fur mutant, we demonstrate that Fur is not essential for P. aeruginosa growth in liquid media, biofilm formation, and pathogenicity in an insect model of infection.