Project description:A holistic approach to examine differential gene expression profiles of transcripts relevant to the moulting process, across all moult cycle stages, was used in this study. Custom cDNA microarrays were constructed for P. pelagicus. The printed arrays contained 5000 transcripts derived from both the whole organism, and from individual organs such as the brain, eyestalk, mandibular organ and Y-organ from all moult cycle stages. A total of 556 clones were sequenced from the cDNA libraries used to construct the arrays. These cDNAs represented 217 singlets and 62 contigs, resulting in 279 unique putative genes. Moult cycle-related differential expression patterns were observed for many transcripts. Keywords: cyclic moult stage comparison of the crab Portunus pelagicus
Project description:Bone tissue engineering (BTE) provides an alternative for addressing bone defects by integrating cells, a scaffold, and bioactive growth factors to stimulate tissue regeneration and repair, resulting in effective bioengineered tissue. This study focuses on repurposing chitosan from blue swimming crab (Portunus pelagicus) shell waste as a composite scaffold combined with HAP and COL I to improve biocompatibility, porosity, swelling, and mechanical properties. The composite scaffold demonstrated nearly 60% porosity with diameters ranging from 100-200 μm with an interconnected network that structurally mimics the extracellular matrix. The swelling ratio of the scaffold was measured at 208.43 ± 14.05%, 248.93 ± 4.32%, 280.01 ± 1.26%, 305.44 ± 20.71%, and 310.03 ± 17.94% at 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 h, respectively. Thus, the Portunus pelagicus scaffold showed significantly lower degradation ratios of 5.64 ± 1.89%, 14.34 ± 8.59%, 19.57 ± 14.23%, and 29.13 ± 9.87% for 1 to 4 weeks, respectively. The scaffold supports osteoblast attachment and proliferation for 7 days. Waste from Portunus pelagicus shells has emerged as a prospective source of chitosan with potential application in tissue engineering.