Body implants biodegradable

The fabrication of implants with controlled nanostructures has very important advantages from the point of view of clinical applications. An appropriate design at the nanostructural level results in better implant-body interactions, improved mechanical properties, and control of the material biodegradation. 

Yang et al. discussed the basic properties of an implantable or extracorporeal artificial liver. The article focused on implantable devices but other than biodegradability, the properties of implantable devices are also applicable to extracorporeal devices. The focus of the article on implantable devices reveals an unfortunate prejudice on the part of much of the scientific community. Most researchers in this field are working on devices intended to be placed in the body. 

A method for increasing the biodegradability of low cytotoxic poly(ethylene glycol-b-(lactide-co-glycolide)) derivatives is described. The block copolymers are thermosensitive and can be easily implanted into the human body through injection for timed release of biologically active agents. 

Chang [2] prepared the thermosensitive biodegradable block copolymer poly [ethylene glycol-b-(lactide-co-glycolide)] end-capped with cholic acid, (I), using catalytic amounts of Sn ion. The product showed improved biode-gradabUity when implanted into the human body with diminished overall polymer cytotoxicity. 

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