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After tendon-repair surgery, adhesion between the surgical tendon and the synovial sheath is often presented resulting in poor functional repair of the tendon. This may be prevented using a commercially available mechanical barrier implant, Seprafilm, which is composed of hyaluronan (HA) and carboxymethyl cellulose hydrogels. In a rat model, prepared membranes of various compositions of gellan gum (GG), xanthan gum (XG) and HA as well as Seprafilm were wrapped around repaired tendons and the adhesion of the tendons was examined grossly and histologically after 3 weeks of healing. Certain formulations of the XG/GG/HA hydrogel membranes reduced tendon adhesion with equal efficacy but without reducing the tendon strength compared to Seprafilm. The designed membranes swelled rapidly and blanketed onto the tendon tissue more readily and closely than Seprafilm. Also they degraded slowly, which allowed the membranes to function as barriers for extended periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An antiadhesion membrane made from gellan gum was fabricated and characterized. A 12-µm-thick membrane of gellan gum was prepared and reacted with 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide to obtain a cross-linked membrane (G/A70) with 87% gel content and a tensile strength of 46.5 MPa. In vivo, the G/A70 membrane had 90% less tissue adhesion. Inflammation-related and extracellular matrix protein gene expression in a rat model of abdominal surgery was found by real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis. On day 3, after surgery, the gene expression of ceruloplasmin and type V collagen in the G/A70-treated group was 1.9 and 0.3 times that of the control group, respectively. The G/A70 membrane elicited mild inflammation but suppressed type V collagen synthesis and reduced the occurrence of tissue adhesion. These findings provide insights into the properties of gellan gum antiadhesion membranes and help to overcome problems involving tissue adhesions in surgical procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The insertion of dental filling into the dental cavity is a common method of maintaining the space and shape of dental cavities after dental extractions. To develop novel dental fillings meeting clinical requirements, gellan gum (GG) is selected in this study to prepare fillings with specific characteristics by modulating gellan gum concentrations (denoted as GG-DF). The results indicate that the microstructure, porosity, and compression modulus of 1.5% and 1.75% GG-DF are similar to a commercially product (Teruplug®) and with good blood absorption capacity. The degradation ratio of Teruplug® in an amylase/phosphate buffer solution after 4weeks is 80% whereas that of 1.5% and 1.75% GG-DF is 65%. Cell migration studies confirmed that the migration ability of fibroblast was significantly inhibited by gellan gum. These results demonstrate that 1.5% and 1.75% GG-DF are potentially viable for developing into dental fillings. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]