Theses and Dissertations from UMD

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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Author: search.filters.author.Falco, Erin E.

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    The Development of EH Networks for Skeletal Muscle Regeneration within Abdominal Wall Hernias
    (2007-05-02) Falco, Erin E.; Fisher, John P; Chemical Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Incisional hernias are a common clinical problem occurring in up to 10% of all patients undergoing abdominal incisions. Current repair techniques involve the placement of xenografts, allografts, or prosthetic biomaterials. Despite these techniques, the incidence of hernia recurrence ranges from 24% to 54%. In order to address these high recurrence rates, we propose using a skeletal muscle engineering strategy. To this end, the novel cyclic acetal biomaterial, 5-ethyl-5-(hydroxymethyl)-β,β-dimethyl-1,3-dioxane-2-ethanol diacrylate, was functionalized to promote skeletal muscle regeneration. It was found that this biomaterial promotes myoblastic cell attachment and proliferation as well as the delivery of functional insulin-like growth factor 1 proteins in vitro; therefore demonstrating the scaffolds biocompatibility. Furthermore, mechanical properties of the scaffold were tested and the complex modulus was shown to decrease after a significant increase in initiator concentration. Overall, this work establishes the functionality of a degradable cyclic acetal as a scaffold for skeletal muscle engineering.