Design and Applications of Biodegradable Polyester Tissue Scaffolds Based on Endogenous Monomers Found in Human Metabolism

Molecules

Devin G. Barrett¹ 

[1] Department of Chemistry and Carolina Center for Genome Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3290, USA

关键词: biodegradable;    polyester;    biocompatible;    elastomer;    tissue scaffold;   

DOI  :  10.3390/molecules14104022

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Synthetic polyesters have deeply impacted various biomedical and engineering fields, such as tissue scaffolding and therapeutic delivery. Currently, many applications involving polyesters are being explored with polymers derived from monomers that are endogenous to the human metabolism. Examples of these monomers include glycerol, xylitol, sorbitol, and lactic, sebacic, citric, succinic, α-ketoglutaric, and fumaric acids. In terms of mechanical versatility, crystallinity, hydrophobicity, and biocompatibility, polyesters synthesized partially or completely from these monomers can display a wide range of properties. The flexibility in these macromolecular properties allows for materials to be tailored according to the needs of a particular application. Along with the presence of natural monomers that allows for a high probability of biocompatibility, there is also an added benefit that this class of polyesters is more environmentally friendly than many other materials used in biomedical engineering. While the selection of monomers may be limited by nature, these polymers have produced or have the potential to produce an enormous number of successes in vitro and in vivo.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.