Polyglycolic acid Applications

Abstract Synthetic polymers and biopolymers are extensively used within the field of tissue engineering. Some common examples of these materials include polylactic acid, polyglycolic acid, collagen, elastin, and various forms of polysaccharides. In terms of application, these materials are primarily used in the construction of scaffolds that aid in the local delivery of cells and growth factors, and in many cases fulfill a mechanical role in supporting physiologic loads that would otherwise be supported by a healthy tissue. In this review we will examine the development of scaffolds derived from biopolymers and their use with various cell types in the context of tissue engineering the nucleus pulposus of the intervertebral disc. 

K5rriacos, A. A. et al.. Sterilization, toxicity, biocompatibility and clinical applications of polylactic acid/polyglycolic acid copolymers. Biomaterials, 17, 93, 1996. 

Aliphatic polyesters (such as PLA, polyglycolic acid and their copolymers) are the most important class of biocompatible polymers used in biomedical applications. This class of polymers has shown superior properties over conventional polymers, such as excellent biocompatibility, biodegradation, and thermal, physical and mechanical properties, which make them suitable for applications in drug delivery and tissue engineering [19-21]. 

Talja, M., Valimaa, T., Tammela, T., Petas, A., and Tormala, P. (1997) Bioab-sorbable and biodegradable stents in urology. /. Endourol, 11 (6), 391-397. Athanasiou, K.A., Niederauer, G.G., and Agrawal, C.M. (1996) Sterilization, toxicity, biocompatibility and clinical applications of polylactic acid/polyglycolic acid copolymers. Biomaterials, 17 (2), 93-102. 

Most applications of SSI techniques have been patented [54-57] and have only been published recently in the open literature [58, 59]. The polymers used are cross-linked polyvinylpirrolidone, bovine serum albumin, polyglycolic acid, polydioxanone the solutes used for the impregnation are model molecules, antiinflammatory drugs and antibiotics (gemtamicin sulfate on bovine serum albumin). 

PLGA (Cutright and Hunsuck, 1971 Athanasiou et al., 1996), which was employed as suture by taking advantage of its biodegradation ability. So far, the medical applications have not changed drastically and the main polymer choices are still the classical types of copolymers based on polylactic acid (PLA) and polyglycolic acid (PGA) as shown in Table 7.6. 

Besides these two typical examples, other widely recognized polyesters include PCL, poly(hydroxybutyrate-hydroxyvalerate) (PHB/HV), and polyglycolic acid (PGA). All of these polyesters are completely degradable and are used in multiple applications in various industries. 

Although several synthetic polymers have been reported to be electrospun successfully and tested with different animal cells, not all of them were approved by FDA as safe biomaterials for biomedical applications. The most commonly known ones are polylactic acid (PLA), polyglycolic acid (PGA), and their copolymer polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) (Teo and Ramakrishna 2006). 

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