Addressing potent single molecule AFM study in prediction of swelling and dissolution rate in polymer matrix tablets

Preparation and Characterization of Polysaccharide Films from the Cyanobacteria Nostoc commune

Nostoc Commune bacteria release a variety of polysaccharides into the culture medium during cell growth. In this paper we report, for the first time, the use of these polysaccharides as a raw material for the preparation of biopolymeric films. The structural characterization of the films prepared was assessed by FTIR and 1H-NMR. XRD and thermal analysis tests showed that these films are amorphous and have a glass transition temperature of −25°C. Tensile tests showed that NCP films displayed a similar mechanical behavior in comparison with other natural biopolymer films. These results suggest that these NCP films can be used for the development of new biopolymeric materials with potential applications in the food and biomedical industries.

Exploring the complex mechanical properties of xanthan scaffolds by AFM-based force spectroscopy

The polysaccharide xanthan has been extensively studied owing to its potential application in tissue engineering. In this paper, xanthan scaffold structures were investigated by atomic force microscope (AFM) in liquid, and the mechanical properties of the complex xanthan structures were investigated by using AFM-based force spectroscopy (FS). In this work, three types of structures in the xanthan scaffold were identified based on three types of FS stretching events. The fact that the complex force responses are the combinations of different types of stretching events suggests complicated intermolecular interactions among xanthan fibrils. The results provide crucial information to understand the structures and mechanical properties of the xanthan scaffold.