Application potential of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell (BMSCs) based tissue-engineering for spinal cord defect repair in rat fetuses with spina bifida aperta

Spina bifida aperta are complex congenital malformations resulting from failure of fusion in the spinal neural tube during embryogenesis. Despite surgical repair of the defect, most patients who survive with spina bifida aperta have a multiple system handicap due to neuron deficiency of the defective spinal cord. Tissue engineering has emerged as a novel treatment for replacement of lost tissue. This study evaluated the prenatal surgical approach of transplanting a chitosan–gelatin scaffold seeded with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) in the healing the defective spinal cord of rat fetuses with retinoic acid induced spina bifida aperta. Scaffold characterisation revealed the porous structure, organic and amorphous content. This biomaterial promoted the adhesion, spreading and in vitro viability of the BMSCs. After transplantation of the scaffold combined with BMSCs, the defective region of spinal cord in rat fetuses with spina bifida aperta at E20 decreased obviously under stereomicroscopy, and the skin defect almost closed in many fetuses. The transplanted BMSCs in chitosan–gelatin scaffold survived, grew and expressed markers of neural stem cells and neurons in the defective spinal cord. In addition, the biomaterial presented high biocompatibility and slow biodegradation in vivo. In conclusion, prenatal transplantation of the scaffold combined with BMSCs could treat spinal cord defect in fetuses with spina bifida aperta by the regeneration of neurons and repairmen of defective region.     

Testing Transverse Sensitivity of Linear Single-Axis Pendulous Accelerometer with Double Turntable Centrifuge

Current ISO standard methods for testing transverse sensitivity of accelerometers are vibration-based. They have difficulties in producing low-frequency vibration for various reasons. This paper introduces a double turntable centrifuge (DTC) to test the accelerometer transverse sensitivity at low frequencies (from 0.01 to 10 Hz). The proposed method can avoid limitations of traditional vibration-based schemes for transverse sensitivity test. In this paper, a theoretical analysis of the method is followed by a presentation of the experimental set-up, and the measurement procedure of a linear single-axis pendulous accelerometer. According to the theoretical analysis and experimental results, it is practicable to test the low-frequency transverse sensitivity with a DTC. The method proposed here can test accelerometer transverse sensitivity at low-frequency with large amplitudes (up to 700 m/s²), and directly measure the angle of the transverse sensitivity with high resolution. It can be a supplement to the standard methods for testing accelerometer transverse sensitivity at low-frequency.     

界面聚合-原位制备聚吡咯/CdS纳米复合材料及其非线性光学性能

为了提高聚吡咯(PPy)的光电性能,通过界面聚合-原位法制备了PPy/Cd S复合薄膜材料,用红外光谱、X射线衍射、扫描电镜、热重分析等方法对产物进行了表征。制备的PPy/Cd S薄膜结构平整,投料比对Cd S纳米棒尺度有明显影响。用紫外吸收、Z-扫描技术初步研究了PPy/Cd S的非线性光学(NLO)性质。PPy/Cd S具有明显的饱和吸收和非线性负折射。PPy/Cd S(摩尔比10∶1)薄膜的非线性折射率是PPy薄膜的2.4倍,三阶非线性极化率是PPy的2.1倍,说明PPy/Cd S薄膜具有良好的三阶NLO性能。该复合材料在光限幅等光电领域具有潜在的应用价值。