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Biodegradability of Materials in Biomedical Applications 2011

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A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2011) | Viewed by 23123

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Prof. Dr. Aldo R. Boccaccini

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Institute of Biomaterials, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
Interests: bioactive glasses; bioceramics; composite coatings; biofabrication; scaffolds; tissue engineering
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Showan N. Nazhat

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Department of Mining and Materials Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Dear Colleagues,

New generation biomaterials should be able to stimulate specific cellular responses at the molecular level, moving from the concept of inertness to one of bioactivity, e.g. positive interaction at the biomaterial-tissue interface. In many cases the body needs only the temporary presence of a device or implant, in which case fully or partially biodegradable materials are better alternatives than biostable materials. The ideal biodegradable material – polymer, ceramic, metal or composite - should be biocompatible, provide adequate initial mechanical fixation, controllably degradable, and should ultimately be replaced by the regenerated tissue.

A wide range of biodegradable materials is being continuously investigated for biomedical applications, which include traditional and advanced biodegradable polymers, bioceramics and composites as well as a small group of metals and alloys based on magnesium.

Typical applications and research areas of biodegradable polymers include surgery sutures, wound dressing, antibacterial coatings, fixation devices, tissue engineering scaffolds as well as drug and cell delivery platforms. Current research focuses also on the development of biodegradable composites combining synthetic or natural biodegradable polymers and bioactive inorganic fillers, e.g. bioactive glasses and calcium phosphate ceramics, which mimic the structural characteristics of the natural extracellular matrix. Magnesium alloys are promising candidates for several structural biomedical applications due to their degradation ability combined with appropriate mechanical properties as well as good biocompatibility and are being proposed as cardiovascular stents, bone fixation devices and porous bone repair materials.

The present combined special issue in IJMS/Materials will include papers authored by researchers around the world reporting on cutting-edge results in the broad field of biodegradable materials for biomedical applications.

Prof. S. N. Nazhat
Prof. A. R. Boccaccini
Guest Editors

Keywords

biodegradable polymers
magnesium alloys
bioactive glasses
calcium phosphates
composites
tissue engineering
drug delivery
sutures
wound dressing
coatings
degradable stents

Related Special Issue

Biodegradability of Materials in Biomedical Applications 2011 in International Journal of Molecular Sciences (7 articles)

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

566 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Polyacylurethanes as Novel Degradable Cell Carrier Materials for Tissue Engineering

by Danijela Jovanovic, Frans V. Roukes, Andrea Löber, Gerwin E. Engels, Willem van Oeveren, Xavier J. Gallego van Seijen, Marja J.A. van Luyn, Martin C. Harmsen and Arend Jan Schouten

Materials 2011, 4(10), 1705-1727; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma4101705 - 06 Oct 2011

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 7614

Abstract

Polycaprolactone (PCL) polyester and segmented aliphatic polyester urethanes based on PCL soft segment have been thoroughly investigated as biodegradable scaffolds for tissue engineering. Although proven beneficial as long term implants, these materials degrade very slowly and are therefore not suitable in applications in which scaffold support is needed for a shorter time. A recently developed class of polyacylurethanes (PAUs) is expected to fulfill such requirements. Our aim was to assess in vitro the degradation of PAUs and evaluate their suitability as temporary scaffold materials to support soft tissue repair. With both a mass loss of 2.5–3.0% and a decrease in molar mass of approx. 35% over a period of 80 days, PAUs were shown to degrade via both bulk and surface erosion mechanisms. Fourier Transform Infra Red (FTIR) spectroscopy was successfully applied to study the extent of PAUs microphase separation during in vitro degradation. The microphase separated morphology of PAU1000 (molar mass of the oligocaprolactone soft segment = 1000 g/mol) provided this polymer with mechano-physical characteristics that would render it a suitable material for constructs and devices. PAU1000 exhibited excellent haemocompatibility in vitro. In addition, PAU1000 supported both adhesion and proliferation of vascular endothelial cells and this could be further enhanced by pre-coating of PAU1000 with fibronectin (Fn). The contact angle of PAU1000 decreased both with in vitro degradation and by incubation in biological fluids. In endothelial cell culture medium the contact angle reached 60°, which is optimal for cell adhesion. Taken together, these results support the application of PAU1000 in the field of soft tissue repair as a temporary degradable scaffold. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biodegradability of Materials in Biomedical Applications 2011)

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390 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Effect of Synovial Fluid Enzymes on the Biodegradability of Collagen and Fibrin Clots

by Matthew Palmer, Elizabeth Stanford and Martha M. Murray

Materials 2011, 4(8), 1469-1482; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma4081469 - 22 Aug 2011

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 6183

Abstract

Recently there has been a great deal of interest in the use of biomaterials to stimulate wound healing. This is largely due to their ability to centralize high concentrations of compounds known to promote wound healing at a needed location. Joints present a unique challenge to using scaffolds because of the presence of enzymes in synovial fluid which are known to degrade materials that would be stable in other parts of the body. The hypothesis of this study was that atelocollagen scaffolds would have greater resistance to enzymatic degradation than scaffolds made of gelatin, fibrin and whole blood. To test this hypothesis, collagen and fibrin-based scaffolds were placed in matrix metallopeptidase-1 (MMP-1), elastase, and plasmin solutions at physiologic concentrations, and the degradation of each scaffold was measured at varying time points. The atelocollagen scaffolds had a significantly greater resistance to degradation by MMP-1, elastase and plasmin over the fibrin based scaffolds. The results suggest that atelocollagen-based scaffolds may provide some protection against premature degradation by synovial fluid enzymes over fibrin-based matrices. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biodegradability of Materials in Biomedical Applications 2011)

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1164 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Synthesis and Hydrolytic Degradation of Substituted Poly(DL-Lactic Acid)s

by Hideto Tsuji, Takehiko Eto and Yuzuru Sakamoto

Materials 2011, 4(8), 1384-1398; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma4081384 - 10 Aug 2011

Cited by 33 | Viewed by 8554

Abstract

Non-substituted racemic poly(DL-lactic acid) (PLA) and substituted racemic poly(DL-lactic acid)s or poly(DL-2-hydroxyalkanoic acid)s with different side-chain lengths, i.e., poly(DL-2-hydroxybutanoic acid) (PBA), poly(DL-2-hydroxyhexanoic acid) (PHA), and poly(DL-2-hydroxydecanoic acid) (PDA) were synthesized by acid-catalyzed polycondensation of DL-lactic acid (LA), DL-2-hydroxybutanoic acid (BA), DL-2-hydroxyhexanoic acid (HA), and DL-2-hydroxydecanoic acid (DA), respectively. The hydrolytic degradation behavior was investigated in phosphate-buffered solution at 80 and 37 °C by gravimetry and gel permeation chromatography. It was found that the reactivity of monomers during polycondensation as monitored by the degree of polymerization (DP) decreased in the following order: LA > DA > BA > HA. The hydrolytic degradation rate traced by DP and weight loss at 80 °C decreased in the following order: PLA > PDA > PHA > PBA and that monitored by DP at 37 °C decreased in the following order: PLA > PDA > PBA > PHA. LA and PLA had the highest reactivity during polymerization and hydrolytic degradation rate, respectively, and were followed by DA and PDA. BA, HA, PBA, and PHA had the lowest reactivity during polymerization and hydrolytic degradation rate. The findings of the present study strongly suggest that inter-chain interactions play a major role in the reactivity of non-substituted and substituted LA monomers and degradation rate of the non-substituted and substituted PLA, along with steric hindrance of the side chains as can be expected. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biodegradability of Materials in Biomedical Applications 2011)

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