In vitro degradation of electrospun poly(L-lactic acid)/segmented poly(ester urethane) blends

F. MONTINI BALLARIN; P.C. CARACCIOLO; G. RIVERO; G.A. ABRAHAM

POLYMER DEGRADATION AND STABILITY

ELSEVIER SCI LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2016 vol. 126 p. 159 - 169

0141-3910

Scaffold degradation behavior is one of the main aspects to beconsidered in tissue engineering applications. The hydrolytic in vitrodegradation of compliant biomimetic electrospun bilayered vascular graftsmade of poly(L-lactic acid) and segmented poly(ester urethane) blends wasstudied. Two polymeric blends were selected based on the natural arteriescollagen and elastin composition, structure and functionality. Thevariation of molecular weight, and thermal and surface properties of theblends, as well as their plain polymers, were analyzed and related to thestructural and morphological changes taking place during degradation. Thelow initial crystallinity and high hydrophilicity of blends, along with asynergetic outcome produced by blending, led to a higher molecular weightloss. Even more, it was observed that a bilayered graft made from theseblends would degrade evenly as a whole. Moreover, the degradation timewas found to match with the required for the regeneration processes.These facts make them encouraging for a future application as degradablesmall-diameter vascular constructs.