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Biomedical Applications of Polyesters and Related Polymers

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A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Biomaterials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2020) | Viewed by 9463

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Jordi Puiggali

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Guest Editor

Department of Chemical Engineering, Polytechnic University of Catalonia, 08019 Barcelona, Spain
Interests: structure of synthetic polymers; biodegradable polymers; nanocomposites; polymer physics; polymer crystallization
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear colleagues,

Aliphatic polyesters are nowadays the most competitive biodegradable polymers commercialized to date for biomedical speciality applications. Considerable research is however still necessary in order to improve the final properties of such materials and to properly meet requirements that are continuously becoming more specific and selective. Significant efforts are therefore being focused to attain unique material properties and to address specific issues related to both biocompatibility and biodegradability. This research includes the study of the change of properties during degradation and the evaluation of long-term host responses.

The chemical modification of functionalized polyesters is a possibility to achieve better properties including hydrophilicity, biodegradation rate or bioadhesion, to attach compounds with pharmacological activity or in general target the subsequent medical treatments. The incorporation of natural α-amino acids in a polyester main chain renders new polymers with amide groups and distinctive mechanical properties through the establishment of hydrogen bonding interactions.

This Special Issue of Materials aims to discuss, collect and offer recent highlights and advances on polyesters and related polymers (e.g., poly(ester amide)s, and poly(ester urea)s) for applications in the biomedical field. To this end, progress on the development of biodegradable and biocompatible elastomers, hyperbranched polymers, functional polymers for conjugating drugs or cell signalling molecules, hydrogels, non-viral delivery vectors, scaffolds with multiple functionalities, stent coatings, and bactericidal wound dressings materials science are some of the specific topics that should be considered.

Prof. Jordi Puiggalí
Guest Editor

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Keywords

polylactones
poly(hydroxyalkanoate)s
poly(alkylene dicarboxylates)
poly(ester amide)s
hyperbranched polymers
supramolecular hydrogels
nanomedicine
scaffolds
drug delivery systems
responsiveness

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 4651 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Crystallization Behavior and Mechanical Properties of Poly(ε-caprolactone) Reinforced with Barium Sulfate Submicron Particles

by Hegoi Amestoy, Paul Diego, Emilio Meaurio, Jone Muñoz and Jose-Ramon Sarasua

Materials 2021, 14(9), 2368; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma14092368 - 02 May 2021

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2163

Abstract

Poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) was mixed with submicron particles of barium sulfate to obtain biodegradable radiopaque composites. X-ray images comparing with aluminum samples show that 15 wt.% barium sulfate (BaSO₄) is sufficient to present radiopacity. Thermal studies by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) show a statistically significant increase in PCL degree of crystallinity from 46% to 52% for 25 wt.% BaSO₄. Non-isothermal crystallization tests were performed at different cooling rates to evaluate crystallization kinetics. The nucleation effect of BaSO₄ was found to change the morphology and quantity of the primary crystals of PCL, which was also corroborated by the use of a polarized light optical microscope (PLOM). These results fit well with Avrami–Ozawa–Jeziorny model and show a secondary crystallization that contributes to an increase in crystal fraction with internal structure reorganization. The addition of barium sulfate particles in composite formulations with PCL improves stiffness but not strength for all compositions due to possible cavitation effects induced by debonding of reinforcement interphase. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomedical Applications of Polyesters and Related Polymers)

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15 pages, 3741 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Cell Responses to Electrical Pulse Stimulation for Anticancer Drug Release

by Anna Puiggalí-Jou, Luis J. del Valle and Carlos Alemán

Materials 2019, 12(16), 2633; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma12162633 - 19 Aug 2019

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3189

Abstract

Electrical stimulation is an attractive approach to tune on-demand drug release in the body as it relies on simple setups and requires typically 1 V or less. Although many studies have been focused on the development of potential smart materials for electrically controlled drug release, as well as on the exploration of different delivery mechanisms, progress in the field is slow because the response of cells exposed to external electrical stimulus is frequently omitted from such investigations. In this work, we monitor the behavior of prostate and breast cancer cells (PC-3 and MCF7, respectively) exposed to electroactive platforms loaded with curcumin, a hydrophobic anticancer drug. These consist in conducting polymer nanoparticles, which release drug molecules by altering their interactions with polymer, and electrospun polyester microfibres that contain electroactive nanoparticles able to alter the porosity of the matrix through an electro-mechanical actuation mechanism. The response of the cells against different operating conditions has been examined considering their viability, metabolism, spreading and shape. Results have allowed us to differentiate the damage induced in the cell by the electrical stimulation from other effects, as for example, the anticancer activity of curcumin and/or the presence of curcumin-loaded nanoparticles or fibres, demonstrating that these kinds of platforms can be effective when the dosage of the drug occurs under restricted conditions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomedical Applications of Polyesters and Related Polymers)

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20 pages, 8095 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Isothermal Crystallization Kinetics of Poly(4-hydroxybutyrate) Biopolymer

by Ina Keridou, Luis J. del Valle, Lutz Funk, Pau Turon, Ibraheem Yousef, Lourdes Franco and Jordi Puiggalí

Materials 2019, 12(15), 2488; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma12152488 - 06 Aug 2019

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3522

Abstract

Thermal properties and crystallization kinetics of poly(4-hydroxybutyrate) (P4HB) have been studied. The polymer shows the typical complex melting behavior associated to different lamellar populations. Annealing processes had great repercussions on properties and the morphology of constitutive lamellae as verified by X-ray scattering data. Kinetics of isothermal crystallization was evaluated by both polarizing optical microscopy (POM) and calorimetric (DSC) measurements, which indicated a single crystallization regime. P4HB rendered banded spherulites with a negative birefringence when crystallized from the melt. Infrared microspectroscopy was applied to determine differences on the molecular orientation inside a specific ring according to the spherulite sectorization or between different rings along a determined spherulitic radius. Primary nucleation was increased during crystallization and when temperature decreased. Similar crystallization parameters were deduced from DSC and POM analyses (e.g., secondary nucleation parameters of 1.69 × 10⁵ K² and 1.58 × 10⁵ K², respectively). The effect of a sporadic nucleation was therefore minimized in the experimental crystallization temperature range and a good proportionality between overall crystallization rate (k) and crystal growth rate (G) was inferred. Similar bell-shaped curves were postulated to express the temperature dependence of both k and G rates, corresponding to the maximum of these curves close to a crystallization temperature of 14–15 °C. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomedical Applications of Polyesters and Related Polymers)

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