International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser

Special Issue Editor

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Bacterial cellulose is an exopolysaccharide produced by certain types of bacteria, with the highest producers being K. xylinus, K. hansenii, and A. pasteurianus. Bacterial cellulose has been investigated for many applications in the biomedical field, including vascular tissue engineering, ocular tissue engineering, musculoskeletal tissue engineering, wound dressings, drug delivery, biosensors, and beyond. Our growing understanding of bacterial cellulose synthesis, fabrication, and modification has opened up many research opportunities for this renewable material. Furthermore, research in genetic engineering, metabolic engineering, and synthetic biology to develop novel hybrid materials aims to extend the potential applications of bacterial cellulose far beyond what is achievable today.

Contributions to this Special Issue will cover recent advances in:

Fundamental understanding of bacterial cellulose structure;
Reporting on unique cellulose-producing microbial strains;
Genetics of cellulose-producing organisms;
Tools to improve production and synthesis;
Synthetic biology, genetic engineering, metabolic engineering approaches for alternative biomaterials, functionality, or properties;
Post-production non-covalent and covalent modifications;
Composite bacterial cellulose materials;
Drug delivery systems;
Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine;
Medical devices.

I encourage submission of both original research articles and topical reviews to provide new insight on the use of bacterial cellulose and hybrid biomaterials for a broad range of biomedical applications. All submitted articles will undergo peer review.

Prof. Dr. Jeannine Coburn
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Related Special Issue

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers

Research

20 pages, 3934 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Antimicrobial Effects of Bacterial Cellulose Produced by Komagataeibacter intermedius in Promoting Wound Healing in Diabetic Mice

by Chou-Yi Hsu, Sheng-Che Lin, Yi-Hsuan Wu, Chun-Yi Hu, Yung-Tsung Chen and Yo-Chia Chen

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(10), 5456; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23105456 - 13 May 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2902

Abstract

As a conventional medical dressing, medical gauze does not adequately protect complex and hard-to-heal diabetic wounds and is likely to permit bacterial entry and infections. Therefore, it is necessary to develop novel dressings to promote wound healing in diabetic patients. Komagataeibacter intermedius was used to produce unmodified bacterial cellulose, which is rarely applied directly to diabetic wounds. The produced cellulose was evaluated for wound recovery rate, level of inflammation, epidermal histopathology, and antimicrobial activities in treated wounds. Diabetic mices’ wounds treated with bacterial cellulose healed 1.63 times faster than those treated with gauze; the values for the skin indicators in bacterial cellulose treated wounds were more significant than those treated with gauze. Bacterial cellulose was more effective than gauze in promoting tissue proliferation with more complete epidermal layers and the formation of compact collagen in the histological examination. Moreover, wounds treated with bacterial cellulose alone had less water and glucose content than those treated with gauze; this led to an increase of 6.82 times in antimicrobial protection, lower levels of TNF-α and IL-6 (39.6% and 83.2%), and higher levels of IL-10 (2.07 times) than in mice wounds treated with gauze. The results show that bacterial cellulose produced using K. intermedius beneficially affects diabetic wound healing and creates a hygienic microenvironment by preventing inflammation. We suggest that bacterial cellulose can replace medical gauze as a wound dressing for diabetic patients. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bacterial Cellulose: Synthesis, Structure, and Biomedical Applications 2.0)

► Show Figures

Graphical abstract

20 pages, 5297 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Potato Juice, a Starch Industry Waste, as a Cost-Effective Medium for the Biosynthesis of Bacterial Cellulose

by Daria Ciecholewska-Juśko, Michał Broda, Anna Żywicka, Daniel Styburski, Peter Sobolewski, Krzysztof Gorący, Paweł Migdał, Adam Junka and Karol Fijałkowski

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(19), 10807; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms221910807 - 6 Oct 2021

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 5082

Abstract

In this work, we verified the possibility of valorizing a major waste product of the potato starch industry, potato tuber juice (PJ). We obtained a cost-effective, ecological-friendly microbiological medium that yielded bacterial cellulose (BC) with properties equivalent to those from conventional commercial Hestrin–Schramm medium. The BC yield from the PJ medium (>4 g/L) was comparable, despite the lack of any pre-treatment. Likewise, the macro- and microstructure, physicochemical parameters, and chemical composition showed no significant differences between PJ and control BC. Importantly, the BC obtained from PJ was not cytotoxic against fibroblast cell line L929 in vitro and did not contain any hard-to-remove impurities. The PJ-BC soaked with antiseptic exerted a similar antimicrobial effect against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa as to BC obtained in the conventional medium and supplemented with antiseptic. These are very important aspects from an application standpoint, particularly in biomedicine. Therefore, we conclude that using PJ for BC biosynthesis is a path toward significant valorization of an environmentally problematic waste product of the starch industry, but also toward a significant drop in BC production costs, enabling wider application of this biopolymer in biomedicine. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bacterial Cellulose: Synthesis, Structure, and Biomedical Applications 2.0)

► Show Figures