Biomaterials biopolymers

Keywords Biomaterials Biopolymers Intervertebral disc Intervertebral disc degeneration Nucleus pulposus Tissue engineering... 

Part 3 of the Handbook, the domain of materials engineering, contains six chapters. Three deal with classes of biomaterials—biopolymers, composite biomaterials, and bioceramics—and three deal with using biomaterials, in cardiovascular and orthopedic applications, and to promote tissue regeneration. 

Keywords Biomaterial Biopolymer Micelle Micel-lization Complexes... 

Cui Honggang, Webber J. Matthew, and Stuppl. Samuel. Self-assembly of peptide amphiphiles From molecules to nanostructures to biomaterials. Biopolymers. 94 no. 1 (2010) 1-18. 

Baldwin, A.D., Kiick, K.L., 2010. Polysaccharide-modified synthetic polymeric biomaterials. Biopolymers 94 (1), 128-140. 

Oerther, S., Maurin, A.C., Payan, E., Hubert, P., Lapicque, F., Presle, N., Dexheimer, J., Netter, P. and Lapicque, F. (2000) High interaction alginate-hyaluronate associations by hyaluronate deacetylation for the preparation of efficient biomaterials, Biopolym. 54, 273-281. 

Soft Interaction Induced Phase Separation in Biopolymers and Design of New Biomaterials... 

Significant developments have occurred in recent years in the fields of biopolymers and biomaterials. New synthetic materials have been synthesized and tested for a variety of biomedical and related applications from linings for artifical hearts to artifical pancreas devices and from intraocular lenses to drug delivery systems. Of particular interest in the future is the development of intelligent polymers or materials with special functional groups that can be used either for specialty medical applications or as templates or scaffolds for tissue regeneration. 

Bellingham, C. M., Lillie, M. A., Gosline, J. M., Wright, G. M., Starcher, B. C., Bailey, A. J., Woodhouse, K. A., and Keeley, F. W. (2003). Recombinant human elastin polypeptides self-assemble into biomaterials with elastin-like properties. Biopolymers 70, 445-455. 

Anderson, J. M., Hiltner, A., et al. Biopolymers as biomaterials Mechanical properties of gamma-benzyl-L-glutamate-L-leucine copolymers. J. Biomed. Mater. Res. Symp. 4 25-35, 1972. 

The shift from bio-based specialties to commodities is already visible in the marketplace with biopolymers made from corn. The first example is NatureWorks from Cargill, which is made from corn sugar-derived lactic acid. As in the biochemicals examples described above, the environmental benefits are eye-opening NatureWorks already requires 25 to 55 percent less fossil resources, and it is planned to replace fossil resources completely in the next four to six years (Euro-paBio and McKinsey Company, 2003). Other high-potential biomaterials are a polymer based on 1,3-propanediol from DuPont and Genencor (Sorona ) and... 

Plants are wonderful chemical reactors that fabricate complex macromolecules. These compounds are located in the cell wall (e.g. cellulose, lignin, hemicelluloses and pectin) or they constitute the energy stocks (e.g. starch) and even they have specific functions (e.g. proteins). Most of these biopolymers are useful for making industrial biomaterials. 

In the following paragraphs, we will present the technologies needed to overcome these and other disadvantages. In this way, the natural polymer structure becomes profitable for industrial applications as biomaterials. We have selected only the main biopolymers currently used in commercial products. 

DNA is a biopolymer that widely exists in the natural world. DNA possesses perfect biophysical and biochemical properties, which have been optimized over billions of years of evolution. These unique properties of DNA offer excellent prospects for serving as a construction material in bioscience. Several attempts have been made to use DNA as a biomaterial. These publications will be summarized in Sect. 5 on biopolymers. 

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