Narrow Results

Quantum mechanical calculation and molecular dynamics simulation have been carried out to study binding of Oscillarin (OSC), an antithrombotic marine natural product to human α-thrombin. The binding interaction energies between the inhibitor and individual protein fragments are calculated using a combination of HF and DFT methods. Study shows that the strong binding of OSC to Asp189, Ser214, Trp215, Gly216, and Gly219 is the primary mechanism of drug binding to thrombin. The individual residue–ligand interaction energies provide detailed quantitative information about specific residue interaction with the ligand that should be extremely useful to our understanding of the molecular nature of protein–ligand binding.

Fibrin sealant and platelet gels are human blood-derived, biodegradable, non toxic, surgical products obtained by mixing a fibrinogen concentrate or a platelet rich plasma with thrombin, respectively. Fibrin sealant is now a well known surgical tool increasingly used to stop or control bleeding, or to provide air and fluid tightness in many surgical situations. Platelet gels are newly developed preparations that are of specific interest because they contain numerous physiological growth factors and cytikines that are released upon the activation of blood platelets by thrombin. These growth factors, including PDGF, TGF-β 1, BMP, and VEGF have been shown to stimulate cell growth and differentiation with special clinical benefits for soft and bony tissue healing and regeneration. Platelet gels allow surgeons to manipulate the cellular environment of surgical sites and to guide tissue regeneration. A specific interest of such products is observed for the induction of osteogenesis and chondrogenesis. Advances in the preparation, clinical use, and safety of these two important classes of blood-derived biomaterials are reviewed.

The surgical applications of platelet glue (a mixture of platelet gel and fibrin glue) are so far particularly prominent in plastic and orthopedic surgeries. It is shown to accelerate bone fracture and wound healing in many clinical practices. Over the years, one of the components used to prepare platelet glue (PG), thrombin, could only be obtained from pooled human plasma or bovine blood after repeated centrifugation processes. The quantity from this thrombin source is limited and its process deemed time consuming and the risk of infection does exist. Here, we present a stand alone device (TGD^®, Thrombin Generation Device) which could prepare large quantities of human thrombin from autologous or single donor allogeneic plasma donations under sterile conditions. With this specific thrombin product, we could easily further mix with platelet and fibrinogen to prepare the platelet glue. PG not only contains various growth factors such as PDGF, TGF-β which are believed to be beneficial to wound healing but also increase the sticky strength in different operations. In this study, the reconstruction efficacy of PG combined with osteoconductive scaffold, biphasic calcium phosphate scaffold, for a post-operative calvarial bone defect was evaluated.