{"id":3601,"date":"2022-02-07T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-07T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/?p=3601"},"modified":"2022-01-24T09:01:47","modified_gmt":"2022-01-24T09:01:47","slug":"piezoelectric-tissue-scaffold-may-become-the-future-of-joint-cartilage-treatment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/piezoelectric-tissue-scaffold-may-become-the-future-of-joint-cartilage-treatment\/","title":{"rendered":"Piezoelectric \u201cTissue Scaffold\u201d May Become the Future of Joint Cartilage Treatment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sports enthusiasts the world over will be the first to tell you about the dangers of injuring your joints; these injuries can be some of the most painful, and treatments for the area are often incapable of restoring joint movement back to how it was prior to the injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luckily, science is on the case, and much like the efforts in restoring damaged spinal cords<\/a> and damage to tendons<\/a>, fully healing knee cartilage damage is now a pursuit made possible by the wonders of fields like optical and materials engineering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Thanh Nguyen (left) and Yang Liu (right) pose together with their novel work on creating biodegradable polymer-based tissue scaffolds that may also double as a stimulant to accelerate cartilage healing thanks to its piezoelectric properties. (The University of Connecticut, 2022) <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Such is certainly the case with novel technology from the University of Connecticut<\/a> (UConn) researchers Thanh Nguyen and Yang Liu, who together with a team created a novel concept for \u201ctissue scaffolds,\u201d which are materials that are specially designed so as to facilitate and promote tissue healing by allowing neighboring cells to nestle within their structures and reproduce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thing is, soft tissue that regenerates using scaffolds has a tendency to be weaker than the original tissue, according to the researchers in their paper that was published in the journal Science Translational Medicine<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To overcome these limitations, the research team instead worked on synthesizing their tissue scaffolds while incorporating nanofibers of a polymer called poly-L lactic acid <\/em>(PLLA), a polymer known for its piezoelectric<\/em> properties. These piezoelectric materials, in essence, generate an electric current when their internal structures are deformed. (For additional reading about piezoelectric materials, read further with our previous piece on self-powered materials that may be a battery-free alternative to hearing aids<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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